Japan Says Yes to Ripple’s RLUSD — Here’s What It Means for the Stablecoin Race

TLDR

• Japan’s Financial Services Agency approved Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin as an electronic payment instrument under the Payment Services Act
• RLUSD is available to both institutional and retail users through SBI VC Trade
• RLUSD has a market cap of around $1.7 billion, far behind Tether’s $186 billion and Circle’s $74 billion
• The launch follows a memorandum of understanding signed between Ripple and SBI in August 2025
• Japan’s three major banks — MUFG, SMBC, and Mizuho — also plan to launch their own stablecoin before March 2027

Ripple’s dollar-backed stablecoin RLUSD is now live in Japan after receiving approval from the Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA). The regulator classified RLUSD as a new type of electronic payment instrument under Japan’s Payment Services Act — a category created for foreign-issued stablecoins that meet the country’s standards.

Japan is known for running one of the strictest crypto regulatory regimes in the world. Getting a foreign stablecoin cleared for both institutional and retail use is not a small regulatory hurdle.

RLUSD is now available on the VCTRADE platform, run by SBI VC Trade, the digital asset arm of Japanese financial group SBI Holdings. Both retail customers and institutions can access it.

A Long-Running Partnership

The Japan launch didn’t come out of nowhere. Ripple and SBI have a relationship going back to 2016, when they started working together on cross-border payments and blockchain infrastructure in Asia.

The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding in August 2025 that paved the way for this launch. That agreement set the groundwork for RLUSD’s entry into the Japanese market.

Jack McDonald, Ripple’s senior vice president of stablecoins, said RLUSD will “serve as a bridge for payments, tokenization and collateral management,” linking Japanese businesses to global dollar liquidity.

A Small Player in a Big Market

RLUSD launched in late 2024 and is backed 1:1 by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term U.S. government bonds, and cash equivalents. Its current market cap sits at around $1.7 billion.

That’s a fraction of the competition. Tether’s USDT holds roughly $186 billion in market value, and Circle’s USDC sits at about $74 billion. RLUSD has a long way to go to close that gap.

RLUSD is separate from XRP, the token Ripple is best known for. Ripple has positioned RLUSD as an enterprise-focused token for settlements and tokenization — the process of putting real-world assets on a blockchain.

The 24-hour trading volume for RLUSD was $116.7 million at the time of the announcement, according to CoinGecko.

Japan’s Stablecoin Market Is Heating Up

Japan’s broader stablecoin scene is moving quickly. On the same day as Ripple’s announcement, SBI Group launched Japan’s first trust bank-backed yen stablecoin, called JPYSC, in partnership with Singapore-based fintech firm Startale Group.

Japan’s three biggest banks — MUFG, SMBC, and Mizuho — also announced plans to begin live commercial transactions using a jointly issued stablecoin before the fiscal year ending March 2027.

Regulatory approvals like the one Ripple received give RLUSD the credentials needed to compete for institutional business in Japan. Whether it can translate that into meaningful volume against its much larger rivals remains to be seen.

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