RLUSD Gains Institutional Boost as Ripple Invests $150M in LMAX

Ripple traded lower on Thursday but stayed above the $2.08 support level at the time of writing. The wider crypto market also softened after a bullish start to the week. The move came as Ripple confirmed a major institutional partnership tied to RLUSD.

Ripple commits $150M in LMAX partnership

According to a press release, LMAX Group and Ripple announced a strategic partnership spanning multiple years on Thursday. The deal comes with a $150 million financing commitment from Ripple. The companies said the investment will support LMAX’s multi-asset growth ambitions over the long-term.

Ripple USD (RLUSD) is a core component of the partnership. RLUSD will become a key collateral asset within LMAX Group’s leading institutional FX trading infrastructure. This will enable banks, brokers and buy-side firms to utilize RLUSD for margin and settlement.

Collateral for the RLUSD will be backed by several instruments, the companies said. These are spot cryptos, perpetual futures, CFDs and some fiat crosses. Ripple said the configuration was a move towards more convergence between traditional market infrastructure and on-chain settlement.

As previously reported by CoinGape, Ripple obtained the initial approval for the Electronic Money Institution license from Luxembourg’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier. The company said the EMI license represents a big step in expanding cross-border payments on Ripple Payments throughout Europe. It also offers real-time, 24/7 payments for institutional clients.

RLUSD Expands Via LMAX Custody And Prime Brokerage

RLUSD will also be offered through LMAX Custody, the firm added. Client assets will be held in segregated wallets by the custody service. This arrangement allows institutions to transfer collateral across asset classes on the LMAX platform.

Institutions are looking for blockchain-based infrastructure, said Ripple executive Jack McDonald, senior vice president of stablecoins. The partnership will speed up the trading of securities with RLUSD in institutional venues, he said. McDonald pointed to LMAX’s exchange-regulated infrastructure and the $8.2 trillion transacted last year on its trading platform.

The collaboration also links LMAX Digital with Ripple Prime. The company’s multi-asset prime brokerage service offering. Ripple Prime’s clients will be able to access LMAX Digital as a price discovery channel with deep institutional liquidity, the firms said.

Crypto ETF flows in the U.S. also showed continued activity. US-listed XRP ETFs generated almost $11 million of inflows on Wednesday. Cumulative inflows were $1.26 billion and net assets totaled $1.56 billion.

CoinGape reported that it has been registered with the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) through its office in the country. The registration would allow Ripple to provide some crypto-related services in the U.K. The company said it considers these approvals to be indicative of its overall institutional growth strategy.