Quick answer: In December 2024, Independent Reserve became the first MAS-licensed exchange in Singapore to list Ripple USD (RLUSD), Ripple’s dollar-backed stablecoin. RLUSD launched globally on 17 December 2024 under a New York trust charter, and Independent Reserve added RLUSD/SGD and RLUSD/USD trading effective 22 December 2024. The story here is a regulated exchange listing a regulated stablecoin, not a broad claim about companies adopting Ripple.
Updated 07/17/2026. By Jake Claver. Educational content, not investment advice.
Stablecoins are only as useful as the rails and venues that accept them. A dollar token that no licensed exchange will list is a curiosity; one that a regulated platform lists with local-currency pairs starts to look like settlement money. The Independent Reserve listing is worth reading closely because both sides of it, the issuer and the venue, operate under named regulators.
Every claim below traces to a primary source: the Ripple RLUSD launch release, the Independent Reserve listing announcement, and the exchange’s MAS licensing announcement.
What RLUSD is
Ripple USD launched globally on 17 December 2024. According to Ripple, each token is backed by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term U.S. government bonds, and cash equivalents, on a one-to-one basis. It is issued under a New York Department of Financial Services limited-purpose trust company charter, and Ripple commits to monthly third-party attestations of the reserves.
RLUSD is issued on two networks: the XRP Ledger and Ethereum. Its first exchange listings included Uphold, Bitso, MoonPay, Archax, and CoinMENA, with additional platforms, Independent Reserve among them, following in the weeks after launch.
The Singapore listing
Independent Reserve announced on 24 December 2024 that it had listed RLUSD effective 22 December 2024, describing itself as the first licensed exchange in Singapore to do so. RLUSD is available on both the order book and the OTC desk, with RLUSD/SGD and RLUSD/USD pairs. Lasanka Perera, CEO of Independent Reserve Singapore, framed stablecoins as “a viable solution for facilitating payment transactions and supporting decentralised finance.”
Local-currency pairing matters more than it sounds. An RLUSD/SGD pair lets a Singapore user move between Singapore dollars and a U.S.-dollar stablecoin on a regulated venue, which is the practical plumbing behind cross-border payment and treasury use cases.
Why the MAS license matters
Independent Reserve secured a Major Payment Institution Licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore on 1 October 2021, under the Payment Services Act, to provide Digital Payment Token services. The exchange said the MAS review covered customer-protection mechanisms, transaction screening, compliance structures, and IT infrastructure.
That license is what makes the RLUSD listing more than a marketing line. The stablecoin is issued under a New York trust charter, and the venue listing it holds a payments license in one of Asia’s stricter regimes. Regulated issuer plus regulated venue is the combination that policymakers, including the authors of the U.S. President’s Working Group report on stablecoins, have pointed to as the direction of travel.
What it changes for the XRPL ecosystem
Stablecoin activity can make a network more useful for payments and treasury operations, because it gives users a stable unit to transact in rather than forcing every transfer through a volatile asset. RLUSD trading on a MAS-licensed venue is a concrete example of that on the XRP Ledger.
A caveat for honest reading: this is one exchange listing one stablecoin. It should not be inflated into a broad “companies are excited to use Ripple products” narrative, and it is not a prediction about the price of XRP or any token. The settlement-utility story and the investment story are separate.
Why this matters
Cross-border settlement is a repeat-use case: it generates ongoing demand rather than a one-time spike. When a dollar stablecoin is both regulated at issuance and listed on a licensed exchange with local-currency pairs, it becomes usable for real payment and treasury flows instead of pure speculation. That is the specific, sourced version of what happened in Singapore in December 2024.
Common questions
What is RLUSD?
RLUSD, or Ripple USD, is a dollar-backed stablecoin that launched globally on 17 December 2024. Ripple says it is backed one-to-one by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term U.S. government bonds, and cash equivalents, issued under a New York trust charter, with monthly third-party reserve attestations. It runs on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum.
When did Independent Reserve list RLUSD in Singapore?
Independent Reserve listed RLUSD effective 22 December 2024 and announced it on 24 December 2024, describing itself as the first licensed exchange in Singapore to list the stablecoin, with RLUSD/SGD and RLUSD/USD pairs.
Is Independent Reserve regulated in Singapore?
Yes. Independent Reserve holds a Major Payment Institution Licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, granted on 1 October 2021 under the Payment Services Act, to provide Digital Payment Token services.
Does this mean XRP will go up?
No. A stablecoin listing on a regulated exchange is about payment and settlement utility. It is not a price prediction for XRP or any other asset, and it should not be read as one.
This content is educational only. It is not tax, legal, or investment advice. Check primary sources and speak with a qualified professional before making financial decisions.
