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Cross River Bank will connect Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin to its proprietary Core Operating System, or COS, letting fintech customers move between U.S. dollars and the token through the same banking infrastructure they already use, Crypto.news reported.
The bank announced the agreement on Oct. 15, 2026, saying RLUSD transfers and XRP Ledger transactions would sit alongside ACH, wire transfers and real-time payments behind one application programming interface. Cross River said businesses would gain access to blockchain payments without having to build separate blockchain infrastructure, and that the new services are currently available only in limited U.S. states.
Also readRipple Taps Stripe's Privy to Bring XRPL Wallets to Apps
Key facts
- Cross River will add RLUSD to its Core Operating System with transactions supported on the XRP Ledger, reached through a single API connection.
- The companies said RLUSD has passed $2.5 billion in market capitalization, including more than $1 billion issued on the XRP Ledger.
- Adam Goller, Cross River’s head of fintech banking, said businesses should not have to rely on several different providers to move money across the globe.
- Cryptobriefing reported that RLUSD launched in December 2024 under a New York trust company charter and is backed 1:1 by cash, Treasuries and cash equivalents.
- News.bitcoin reported that Cross River’s banking-as-a-service model previously gave companies including Coinbase and Circle access to payment networks handling deposits, withdrawals and money transfers.
One API, old rails and a new one
For Cross River’s fintech clients, the change is a menu addition rather than a rebuild. A firm using the bank can select RLUSD settlement from the same software connection it uses for conventional transfers, rather than standing up a separate crypto stack. The bank said RLUSD would give issuers and acquirers another option for settling funds during the day and expects the integration to reduce settlement delays while supporting international payments and treasury transfers outside standard banking hours.
Cross River said XRP Ledger transactions typically settle within three to five seconds, cost fractions of a cent and run around the clock. Its release put cumulative settlement value on the ledger above $1.3 trillion. Cryptobriefing described the same figures and characterized the integration as putting a stablecoin next to the wire transfer, designed to give partners instant payments, real-time settlement and cross-border services running 24/7.
Also readXRP Ledger passes 13M x402 AI payments, RippleX says
Markus Infanger, senior vice president of RippleX at Ripple, said stablecoins would become part of the banking infrastructure businesses already use, and that connecting RLUSD with Cross River’s regulated platform could simplify international and round-the-clock transfers for fintech companies. News.bitcoin separately quoted Goller describing the partnership as removing the need to work with multiple payment providers so that bank transfers, ACH payments, wires and RLUSD transactions can be reached through one system.
Supply, charter and recent Ripple deals
Ripple names Standard Custody & Trust Company as RLUSD’s issuer. The subsidiary operates under a limited-purpose trust charter supervised by the New York State Department of Financial Services, and Ripple’s transparency disclosures subject the reserves to monthly independent attestations. Its published Sept. 24 snapshot listed approximately $2.409 billion in circulating tokens against $2.5315 billion in reserve funds.
The banking agreement lands in a run of Ripple announcements. On Oct. 14, Ripple said it would work with DriveWealth on RLUSD settlement and payments across a brokerage network serving more than 100 partners globally, starting in Europe before a planned U.S. extension; DriveWealth CEO Naureen Hassan said the company wants account funding to support customers already using its 24/5 trading service, and the release said the firms were exploring equity financing through Ripple Prime’s Delta One business.
On Oct. 12, Standard Chartered launched institutional RLUSD custody on the XRP Ledger through its Dubai International Financial Centre branch, regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority, while a separate collateral arrangement with Ripple and LMAX Group remains subject to testing, final legal documents, internal approvals and applicable regulatory requirements. On Oct. 13, Stripe-owned Privy announced XRP Ledger wallet tools through a Ripple partnership for developers building wallets and applications, including server-side wallets for AI agents making payments through systems such as x402.
Why it matters
Stablecoins have mostly reached customers through crypto-native venues; this arrangement puts one inside a regulated U.S. bank’s existing product set, so a fintech can offer dollar-to-token settlement without owning blockchain operations. That matters most for cross-border payments and after-hours treasury moves, the two areas where the bank says conventional rails are slowest. It also extends RLUSD’s distribution beyond exchanges at a time when Ripple is pursuing brokerage settlement, custody and developer tooling in parallel.
What to watch
Cross River has not said which states are covered, so the scope of availability is the first detail to track, along with whether the bank widens it. Ripple’s monthly attestation snapshot and the next market-cap update will show whether RLUSD’s supply keeps growing after passing $2.5 billion, and the Standard Chartered collateral structure still needs testing, final legal documents, internal approvals and regulatory clearance before it goes live.
Sources: crypto.news, Cryptobriefing, News.bitcoin
