From Decrypt · By Decrypt Agent
In brief
Moody's has assigned A2 long-term and P-1 short-term deposit ratings to Ripple USD, the stablecoin issued by Ripple's Standard Custody & Trust Company.
The agency pointed to reserves held mostly in short-term U.S. government assets and cash, with a target of 103% coverage of tokens in circulation.
The rating follows final OCC approval for Ripple's national trust bank, as RLUSD gains backing from firms including Standard Chartered and Mastercard.
Moody's Ratings has assigned an A2 long-term deposit rating and a P-1 short-term deposit rating to Ripple USD (RLUSD), the dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Ripple subsidiary Standard Custody & Trust Company, the agency said on Tuesday.
A2 is the sixth-highest long-term grade on Moody's scale, and P-1 is its top short-term grade. The agency said the ratings reflect the quality of RLUSD's reserves, which are held mainly in Treasury bills, other short-term U.S. government assets and cash, most of it with custodian BNY. Eligible institutional holders can redeem RLUSD at par within two business days.
Moody's also flagged gaps in holders' protection, noting that Standard Custody is not a bankruptcy-remote entity, and RLUSD holders do not currently have a direct ownership interest in the reserves—though the agency said the GENIUS Act, the U.S. stablecoin law due to take effect in 2027, will exclude required reserves from an issuer's bankruptcy estate. The ratings were requested by the issuer, Moody's said.
The rating came a day after Ripple won final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for Ripple National Trust Bank, which will manage RLUSD's reserves and act as their collateral trustee. RLUSD will continue to be issued by Standard Custody under New York Department of Financial Services oversight, putting the stablecoin under both state and federal supervision.
RLUSD's institutional push
Launched in December 2024 on Ethereum and the XRP Ledger, RLUSD has a market capitalization of about $2.6 billion, according to CoinGecko, still a small share of a stablecoin market worth some $300 billion.
Ripple has pitched the token at institutions rather than retail traders. Earlier this month, Standard Chartered began offering institutional custody of RLUSD through its Dubai branch, and said it was working with Ripple and LMAX Group on a "collateral mirroring" setup that would let clients use the stablecoin as trading collateral without moving it off the bank's books.
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In November 2025, Ripple teamed up with Mastercard, WebBank and Gemini to explore using RLUSD on the XRP Ledger to settle fiat transactions on the Gemini Credit Card, pending regulatory approvals. RLUSD had just passed a $1 billion market cap at the time, making it the 11th-largest stablecoin, according to DefiLlama.