Ripple has struck a deal with Robinhood to expand the reach of its digital dollar, RLUSD, strengthening trading and financing links between their institutional businesses and improving Robinhood's internal money management.
The partnership involves using RLUSD to settle institutional trades, automate Robinhood's treasury operations and expand access to digital asset trading and financing through Ripple Prime and Bitstamp, the global crypto exchange acquired by Robinhood last year.
It also helps meet Robinhood's ambition of becoming a global financial super-app, centralizing its customers' financial lives while expanding the underlying infrastructure that can serve both retail and institutional clients.
"Utility is what moves stablecoins forward. Working with Ripple, Bitstamp and Robinhood will have access to RLUSD for institutional settlement, Ripple Treasury for our operations and Ripple Prime for financing," Robinhood Crypto general manager Johann Kerbrat said in a statement shared with CNBC. "That is what a connected, global financial system looks like."
Stablecoins have long been a workhorse of the crypto world, giving traders a way to move money among exchanges, buy and sell crypto assets, and park funds between trades without having to convert back into traditional currency. But as the crypto industry evolves beyond trading and markets move toward 24/7 liquidity, stablecoins are becoming essential financial infrastructure because of their ability to enable near-instant settlement and move dollar-denominated value at any time, regardless of traditional banking hours.