Can RLUSD Enhance Settlement Speeds? (Report)

This announcement aligns with the recent expansion in Australia to push RLUSD as a settlement asset for institutional use.

Ripple continues to make moves across different markets, aiming to use its RLUSD stablecoin to accelerate its cross-border trade payments.

According to a recent report, the company behind XRP has tapped supply chain finance firm Unloq to replace manual trade finance processes with its own version operating on the XRP Ledger.

BLOOM Participation

Citing a note sent by Ripple, the report informs that the firm wants to test whether RLUSD can replace the manual payment processes that have “slowed cross-border trade for decades.” To do so, it would use the sandbox (BLOOM) managed by Singapore’s central bank.

BLOOM is an initiative developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to extend settlement capabilities for tokenized bank liabilities and regulated stablecoins. Ripple’s partner on the matter will be Unloq to pilot a system where cross-border trade payments using the former’s stablecoin are “released automatically when predefined conditions are met, such as shipment verification.”

RLUSD was launched in December 2024 to be primarily used by institutions, and its market cap is close to $1.5 billion, making it the 9th-largest stablecoin by that metric.

Both entities asserted that current trade finance is “built on layers of manual verification, documentary credits, and correspondent banking relationships that can take days or weeks to settle.” As such, their joint effort would use Unloq’s SC+ platform to bundle trade obligations, settlement conditions, and financing workflows into a single execution layer. RLUSD will operate the actual money movement on the XRP Ledger.

Build On Australian Expansion

The announcement above aligns to an extent with a previous statement from the company, which was focused on the Australian market. As reported a few weeks ago, Ripple outlined plans to secure an Australian Financial Services License in an attempt to expand its payments offering in the country by allowing financial institutions, fintech businesses, and enterprises to move value more efficiently across borders.

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It needs to obtain a license by acquiring BC Payments Australia Pty Ltd., which is subject to finalizing the standard completion process. If completed, it would allow Ripple to operate a licensed platform for moving funds worldwide.