Ripple Expands RLUSD Partnership With Robinhood as Moody’s Assigns A2 Rating
Key Takeaways
- •Moody’s gave RLUSD an A2 long-term rating and its highest P-1 short-term rating, citing the stablecoin’s reserves, liquidity, and redemption arrangements.
- •Ripple received final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for Ripple National Trust Bank.
- •RLUSD supply stood at 981.99 million on the XRP Ledger and 1.598 billion on Ethereum, totaling $2.58 billion on October 28.
- •Settlement on the XRP Ledger uses XRP for transaction fees and reserves, unlike settlement on Ethereum, but the companies disclosed no transaction volumes or dollar figures.
- •XRP traded at $1.3304 and remained below its 50-day EMA at $1.3602 and 200-day EMA at $1.3708.
Ripple opened Swell 2026 in New York on Tuesday, October 27, by expanding its partnership with Robinhood. Institutional trades will be settled in Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin on the XRP Ledger, according to Ripple’s announcement. Less than a day later, Moody’s assigned RLUSD an A2 long-term and P-1 short-term deposit rating.
Both developments center on RLUSD before XRP itself. XRP traded at $1.33, up 2.7% over 24 hours, with $1.56 billion in volume and an $84.2 billion market capitalization.
The question is how much of RLUSD’s expansion could affect XRP directly.
JUST IN: Moody's gave Ripple’s $RLUSD A2 long-term and P-1 short-term deposit ratings. The agency said the strong ratings reflect the stablecoin's reserve coverage, liquidity, and redemption arrangements. pic.twitter.com/7v3JhxtxXH — Whale Insider (@WhaleInsider) October 28, 2026
Ripple’s Swell 2026 announcements
Ripple announced three partnerships and a bank charter, all involving RLUSD. CEO Brad Garlinghouse outlined the developments in a thread on Tuesday night after opening the conference with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
RLUSD is live on Robinhood Chain and on Bitstamp by Robinhood, and is scheduled to arrive in the Robinhood app later this year. Ripple Prime will provide Bitstamp with lending and margin financing across approximately 20 assets, while Robinhood will operate its treasury on Ripple Treasury.
BNY now holds XRP and RLUSD for institutional clients through its Digital Asset Custody platform, in addition to safeguarding RLUSD’s reserves. Ripple and BNY are exploring tokenized trade finance on the XRP Ledger, but have not announced a launch.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency gave final approval for Ripple National Trust Bank on Monday.
Garlinghouse wrote on X:
We’re kicking off 10 years of @RippleSwell with a bang! 1/ Goes without saying, but it was an honor to open up our conference with @SecScottBessent . His leadership, alongside the current administration, has been instrumental in ensuring that responsible crypto can thrive in the… pic.twitter.com/9kvULoDY0n — Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) October 27, 2026
Robinhood’s 28.6 million funded customers are a major part of the partnership’s potential reach. Johann Kerbrat, who leads Robinhood Crypto, summarized the agreement by saying, “Utility is what moves stablecoins forward.” Neither company has disclosed transaction volumes or dollar figures.
What Moody’s A2 rating means for RLUSD
The A2 rating indicates that Moody’s considers the credit risk of holding RLUSD to be low. A2 is an investment-grade rating five levels below Moody’s top Aaa grade, while P-1 is the agency’s highest short-term rating.
The ratings cover RLUSD issued by Standard Custody & Trust, Ripple’s New York-regulated subsidiary, on both the XRP Ledger and Ethereum. Jack McDonald, Ripple’s senior vice president of stablecoins, described RLUSD as “the first stablecoin to have ever received an investment-grade Moody’s rating.”
RLUSD’s reserves consist of cash and short-dated U.S. Treasuries, with most of the assets held at BNY. However, a credit rating is not insurance. RLUSD is not a bank deposit, and Moody’s has not published its full reasoning for the rating.
RLUSD’s distribution across the two blockchains
A review of both blockchains on October 28 found 981.99 million RLUSD on the XRP Ledger and 1.598 billion RLUSD on Ethereum, for a combined total of $2.58 billion. The XRP Ledger accounted for 38% of the supply.
The amount on the XRP Ledger has changed little since late August, when reports placed the figure near $1 billion. This makes Robinhood’s settlement choice relevant to XRP holders. Settlement on the XRP Ledger burns XRP through transaction fees and requires XRP for reserves, while settlement on Ethereum does not directly use XRP.
Ripple’s own XRP holdings also remained unchanged. The 1 billion XRP released from escrow on October 1 was still untouched in the two wallets XRPScan labels Ripple 10 and Ripple 11, with 500 million XRP in each wallet. Another 1 billion XRP is scheduled to unlock on Sunday, November 1.
XRP’s position relative to its moving averages
XRP had not yet moved above its key exponential moving averages. On Binance, XRP traded at $1.3304 after gaining 1.7% on Tuesday, the day of the Robinhood XRP announcement. The token remained below its 50-day EMA at $1.3602 and its 200-day EMA at $1.3708.
The two EMAs formed a range between $1.3602 and $1.3708. XRP had not closed a day above either level since October 11. The next resistance level was $1.3992, the October 21 high where the previous rally ended.
Support was identified at $1.2546, the October 24 low, near the $1.2562 level that held on October 18.
The Swell main stage opened on October 28 and was scheduled to run through Thursday. The article identified RLUSD’s supply on the XRP Ledger as a key figure to monitor after the event. If Robinhood’s settlement activity begins appearing on the XRP Ledger, the network’s 38% share of RLUSD supply could increase.
Source: 99Bitcoins
