Ripple Drops RLUSD on SBI's VCTRADE — Japan Says "Yen-joy Your New Stablecoin

Ripple has launched its dollar-backed stablecoin Ripple USD (RLUSD) in Japan through SBI Group's VCTRADE platform operated by SBI VC Trade, following approval from the country's Financial Services Agency. The rollout opens the regulated token to institutional and retail users in Japan under a revised stablecoin framework that took effect on June 1, which classifies qualifying foreign-issued stablecoins as electronic payment instruments under the Payment Services Act and places RLUSD in a new instrument category under the same law.

Ripple's Senior Vice President of Stablecoins, Jack McDonald, said RLUSD will function as a bridge for payments, tokenization and collateral management, connecting Japanese businesses to global liquidity. "Japan has long been a leader in digital asset adoption, underpinned by both regulatory clarity and financial innovation. This launch marks an important step in expanding access to transparent, regulated USD-backed stablecoins like RLUSD for financial institutions, consumers, and businesses in Japan," McDonald said.

The launch fulfills a memorandum of understanding signed in August 2025 and extends a Ripple-SBI partnership that began in 2016, part of SBI's broader push around XRP. Ripple's Japan presence has expanded this year, with XRP also gaining a spot listing on Rakuten Wallet.

RLUSD's market capitalization reached an all-time high of $1.8 billion in early June before slipping to approximately $1.59 billion, according to DeFiLlama data, leaving the figure up roughly 271% over the past year. The Japan debut extends RLUSD's push into other regulated markets, where it now competes against established stablecoin operators.