RLUSD Market Cap Tops $2.5 Billion as BNY Expands XRP and RLUSD Custody

Key Facts

BNY has added support for XRP and RLUSD to its digital custody platform, expanding services for eligible institutional clients to include custody, holding and transfer of both assets, according to a Ripple announcement on October 27, 2026. In a separate announcement the same day, Ripple said RLUSD’s market capitalization had topped $2.5 billion, with more than $1 billion issued on the XRP Ledger. The announcements come as Ripple, BNY and C2FO explore a supply chain finance initiative, while Ripple and C2FO announced a separate route to move financing and settlement tied to the Instant Pay service onto the network. The addition of XRP and RLUSD to the custody platform is an announced service for eligible clients, while the joint financing initiative with BNY remains under exploration. Ripple said the expansion builds on BNY’s role as primary custodian of RLUSD reserves and its existing custody relationship with Ripple Prime.

Under the Instant Pay initiative, participating capital providers fund payments, which are then settled on the XRP Ledger using RLUSD, according to Ripple. The company says the mechanism targets suppliers who may wait 30 or 60 or 90 days after delivering goods and services to collect payment. Under the initiative, suppliers can receive funds within seconds against invoices whose terms and due dates remain as agreed. The arrangement is described as accelerating suppliers’ access to liquidity without changing the term agreed with the buyer. Ripple and C2FO attributed these figures to potential waiting periods for businesses, while the announcement did not specify expected financing volume or the value of transactions the initiative will execute. C2FO’s page said the service would roll out gradually over the coming months and be available in the United States at launch.

C2FO says its previous Early Pay programs helped businesses access more than $250 billion in working capital by accelerating payment of approved invoices. That figure is a cumulative total for those programs, not financing completed through the XRP Ledger or an outcome of the new initiative. In its Instant Pay announcement, Ripple said the XRP Ledger settles transactions in 3 to 5 seconds for a fraction of a cent and operates 24/7. The parties announced that the network would be used for settlement in the initiative, but did not say these features would represent operating terms for every transaction or determine its commercial impact. The project comes in a sector where the World Bank estimated the global gap between trade finance supply and demand at about $2.5 trillion in an article published on October 23, 2025. The bank said the financing shortfall is more acute in fragile and conflict-affected countries, where small and medium-sized businesses lack resources.

Trade finance also highlights risks related to documents being duplicated or altered, a point BNY raises in its discussion of asset tokenization. The institution cited an estimate from the International Chamber of Commerce that up to 1% of trade finance transactions each year, worth more than $50 billion, are exposed to fraud. Paper documents may allow a claim to be copied, altered or submitted more than once, creating the possibility of financing the same asset twice. BNY says blockchain-based and tokenized infrastructure may enable greater transparency, operational efficiency and settlement certainty, presenting these as possibilities rather than proven or guaranteed outcomes. These risks and contexts place the supply chain finance initiative in a market facing a large gap, without disclosing the expected program’s size or the impact it will achieve.

BNY plans to expand its support for tokenized assets and investment products issued on the XRP Ledger, and is working with Ripple to enable the bank’s clients to issue and redeem RLUSD directly through it. Ripple said future plans are subject to BNY’s final approvals and regulatory approvals, and the announcement did not specify a timetable for implementation. Ripple selected BNY on July 9, 2025, as primary custodian of RLUSD reserves. On June 29, 2026, BNY announced that USDC would be the first stablecoin on its digital custody platform, with custody, transfer, minting and redemption services for institutional clients. It then announced on July 29 the launch of digital transfer agency capabilities to support digital-native and traditional funds, starting with selected clients in the United States and the United Kingdom, with plans to expand. According to data cited by Ripple, as of September 30, 2026, BNY oversaw $63.4 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, including $2.2 trillion under management.