Crypto payments company Ripple has revealed its preliminary exchange and market maker partners for the launch of its dollar-pegged stablecoin Ripple USD (RLUSD).

The exchange partners are Bitstamp, Bitso, Bullish, CoinMENA, Independent Reserve, MoonPay, and Uphold. In addition, B2C2 and fellow market maker Keyrock will provide liquidity support for RLUSD.

Advisory Appointments

“With our initial exchange partners, clear utility and demand for RLUSD, and a strong focus on regulatory compliance, Ripple’s stablecoin is poised to become the gold standard for enterprise-grade stablecoins,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said during the announcement.

He added that its payment solutions will leverage RLUSD for faster and more reliable cross-border transactions.

The firm also appointed former FDIC chair Sheila Bair and ex-Centre CEO David Puth to its stablecoin advisory board to guide the rollout of its product to the market.

Bair and Puth believe that stablecoins will play a crucial role in modernizing the financial system. The former emphasized the importance of responsible innovation to ensure consumer protection and financial stability as the industry grows.

Additionally, by offering stability and efficiency through blockchain technology, Puth believes these assets are important in bridging the gap between traditional finance and the crypto market.

Cross-Border Payments and Tokenization

The digital payment company is still awaiting final regulatory approval from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) before the public release of RLUSD.

Monica Long, President of Ripple Labs, confirmed in an interview with CoinDesk that it is prepared to launch as soon as this is granted. “From our side, we are operationally ready,” she said.

According to her, the new offering will build on Ripples established role in payments and act as a key bridge for tokenizing real-world assets.

“For RLUSD and stablecoins generally, we definitely have validated the utility of them with payments, Long explained. She added that they also believe in the wider trend of real-world assets tokenization.

The announcement follows earlier plans this year to launch its product in the rapidly expanding $170 billion stablecoin market. Each RLUSD token is designed for enterprise use cases and will be fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits, government bonds, and cash equivalents.

The offering is currently in a testing phase on both the XRP Ledger and Ethereum networks. Ripple plans to issue monthly attestations on RLUSD’s reserves. BPM, a San Francisco-based accounting firm, will conduct independent audits.