Moody’s RLUSD rating is A2 long-term, P-1 short-term

Decision follows OCC approval of Ripple National Trust Bank; Moody’s cites T‑bill and cash reserves, a 103% target and two-day institutional redemptions.

Moody’s Ratings assigned A2 long-term and P-1 short-term deposit ratings to Ripple USD (RLUSD), the dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Ripple subsidiary Standard Custody & Trust Company. Moody’s RLUSD rating places the token in the sixth-highest long-term grade on the agency’s scale and the top short-term tier, the report said.

What underpins the grades

Moody’s said the ratings reflect reserve quality and access. RLUSD’s reserves are held mainly in Treasury bills, other short-term U.S. government assets and cash, with most of the cash at custodian BNY. The issuer targets 103% coverage of tokens in circulation. Eligible institutional holders can redeem at par within two business days, according to the agency. Moody’s said the ratings were requested by the issuer.

The agency also flagged gaps in protection. Standard Custody is not bankruptcy-remote, and RLUSD holders do not currently have a direct ownership interest in the reserves. Moody’s said the GENIUS Act, a U.S. stablecoin law due to take effect in 2027, will exclude required reserves from an issuer’s bankruptcy estate.

Dual oversight after OCC bank approval

The rating followed final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for Ripple National Trust Bank. According to the report, that bank will manage RLUSD’s reserves and act as their collateral trustee, while RLUSD will continue to be issued by Standard Custody under New York Department of Financial Services oversight. The setup puts the stablecoin under both state and federal supervision.

Ripple has focused RLUSD on institutional use, the report said. Standard Chartered began offering institutional custody of RLUSD through its Dubai branch and is working with Ripple and LMAX Group on a “collateral mirroring” arrangement intended to let clients post the token as trading collateral without moving it off the bank’s books. In a separate initiative announced in November 2025, Ripple teamed with Mastercard, WebBank and Gemini to explore using RLUSD on the XRP Ledger to settle fiat transactions on the Gemini Credit Card, pending regulatory approvals.

The next dated change cited by Moody’s is statutory: the GENIUS Act is due to take effect in 2027, which the agency said would keep required reserves outside an issuer’s bankruptcy estate. Until then, the protections and limits Moody’s described remain the relevant terms for holders.

Source: Decrypt.
This article was written with AI assistance and reviewed by an editor.
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