The Japanese Financial Services Agency classified Ripple’s dollar-pegged stablecoin RLUSD as an “electronic payment instrument type 4” on 25 June 2026, clearing the way for distribution through SBI VC Trade. Two days later the company began issuing the token in the country, initially capping transactions at one million yen. RLUSD is fully backed by US dollar deposits and short-term Treasuries, with monthly attestations to ensure transparency.
The move came hot on the heels of a separate regulatory victory in Europe. Luxembourg’s CSSF granted Ripple a provisional CASP licence on 23 June, enabling operations across all 30 countries of the European Economic Area. Combined with an existing e-money licence, the company can now offer both XRP Ledger services and RLUSD throughout the bloc — just days before the 1 July MiCA compliance deadline for unlicensed stablecoin issuers.
Yet for all this infrastructure expansion, XRP’s price tells a far grimmer story. The token changed hands at $1.04 on the day of the Japanese launch, a level that puts it within striking distance of its 52-week low. It has lost more than half its value over the past twelve months and sits roughly 72% below the $3.65 peak reached in July 2025. The relative strength index hovers near 31, teetering on the brink of oversold territory, while the broader crypto Fear & Greed index remains mired between 12 and 18 — extreme fear.
Despite the price malaise, institutional appetite for XRP exposure has held up. US spot ETFs attracted net inflows of $46.5 million in June alone, bringing cumulative net inflows to $1.43 billion since the products launched in November 2025. Total assets under management now stand at roughly $928 million. That contrasts sharply with recent outflows from Bitcoin-linked funds.
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Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse used a CNBC appearance on 27 June to push back against what he called “financial engineering” in the market, singling out MicroStrategy’s preferred-stock leverage model as a threat to stability. He framed RLUSD as a utility-first tool for instant settlement and lower capital lock-up — a deliberate departure from speculative structures.
Behind the scenes, Ripple is also preparing a substantial network upgrade. The developer community is signalling broad support for two new protocols that would enable native lending directly on the XRP Ledger. Users would deposit assets such as XRP into liquidity pools and earn yields, while borrowers gain access to fixed-rate loans — all settled on-chain without the need for external smart contracts.
The next major catalyst may come from Washington. The US Senate is expected to vote on the CLARITY Act between 13 July and 4 August. If passed, the bill would classify digital assets such as XRP as commodities. Standard Chartered analysts project that a positive outcome could trigger ETF inflows of between $4 billion and $8 billion, a sum that would likely reverse the current downtrend. For now, all eyes are on the first full week of RLUSD trading in Japan, beginning 30 June, as the clearest near-term gauge of whether Ripple’s regulatory wins can translate into real on-chain volume.
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