Garlinghouse Builds RLUSD With Dual-Charter Dollar Plan

Brad Garlinghouse is the chief executive of Ripple and the lead executive behind RLUSD, a U.S. dollar stablecoin launched in December 2024. RLUSD is issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company (SCTC) under a New York Department of Financial Services limited-purpose trust charter.

On Dec. 12, 2025, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted conditional approval for Ripple National Trust Bank to act as a federally chartered national trust bank. The OCC approval is conditional and requires Ripple to meet pre-opening requirements for governance, capital and compliance before the bank can open.

Under Ripple’s described structure, SCTC remains the active issuer of RLUSD under NYDFS supervision. The proposed national trust bank is intended to serve as a federal collateral trustee for RLUSD reserves if the federal bank opens and accepts that role.

Ripple says RLUSD reserves are held one-to-one against cash, short-term U.S. Treasuries and cash equivalents. The company identifies BNY Mellon as a named reserve custodian and states that reserves are subject to independent attestations on a monthly basis.

Company figures show RLUSD circulating supply near $2.4 billion, with about $1.4 billion on Ethereum and about $1.0 billion on the XRP Ledger. Ripple reports daily on-chain activity around $750 million. These figures are presented as company-sourced metrics and reflect activity at the time they were reported.

Ripple has emphasized corporate treasury channels for distribution. Ripple Treasury, built around the company’s treasury product, services a set of corporate treasurers and finance teams the company says handle large transaction volumes; the company describes that customer base as the target for RLUSD rather than a forecast of guaranteed conversions to the stablecoin.

Brad Garlinghouse described the OCC action as ‘a massive step forward’ for stablecoin oversight. He has described himself as ‘not an XRP maximalist,’ saying either XRP or a stablecoin can be the more appropriate payment tool depending on a customer’s needs.

The conditional OCC approval creates an added federal supervisory track but does not replace the existing state trust charter. Until Ripple National Trust Bank completes required pre-opening steps and receives final regulatory approval, SCTC’s NYDFS trust charter governs RLUSD issuance and reserve arrangements.

Operational details that Ripple highlights include segregated reserves, named custodial arrangements, monthly independent attestations, and mint-and-redeem rails for institutional customers. The proposed federal trust bank is portrayed by Ripple as a fiduciary layer for collateral rather than an immediate replacement for the state trust issuer.

The regulatory status is central to counterparties evaluating RLUSD. The current legal and supervisory map includes SCTC as the issuing trust under NYDFS, BNY Mellon as reserve custodian per company documents, and a conditional federal trustee track pending completion of OCC pre-opening conditions by Ripple National Trust Bank.