Wednesday, June 24, 2026 · XRPTRACER news
By XRPTRACER Research Team
A day after its European license news, Ripple has a win in Asia. RLUSD is officially live in Japan. Ripple and SBI Holdings announced the launch through SBI VC Trade, following approval from Japan's Financial Services Agency (JFSA).
XRP market moves
XRP opened June 24 (00:00 UTC) at about $1.11, down roughly 1.7% on the day, with a market cap near $68.8B (CoinGecko daily history). Two straight days of regulatory wins haven't stopped the slide that began in early June.
Wall Street keeps building
What the JFSA did. RLUSD is classified as a new type of electronic payment instrument under Japan's Payment Services Act. That category exists for foreign-issued stablecoins that meet Japanese safety standards. Japan is one of the strictest stablecoin regimes anywhere, so clearing it is a real credential.
Who can buy it. SBI VC Trade will offer RLUSD to both institutions and retail on its VCTRADE platform. Many stablecoin approvals elsewhere are institution-only. Retail access in Japan is notable.
The SBI history. This delivers on a memorandum of understanding Ripple and SBI signed in August 2025. SBI has been one of Ripple's longest-standing partners and shareholders.
The scale check. Ripple puts RLUSD at about $1.7B in market cap. That's real growth since late 2024, but it's still tiny next to Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC, which are each tens of billions or more.
What people are talking about
On X, Japanese and global XRP accounts are celebrating "Japan approves Ripple." That's accurate for RLUSD. It's a stretch to read it as a new approval for XRP, which already trades on Japanese exchanges.
The sharper question is the same one we asked about Türkiye: which chain? RLUSD exists on both the XRP Ledger and Ethereum. Japanese distribution matters most to XRP if the RLUSD sold there lives on XRPL. Today's release doesn't break that out.
Question everything
Expect some posts claiming that SBI's launch will "force" banks to buy XRP. Nothing in the announcement says that. It's a stablecoin listing. Keep claims tied to what the documents say.
On-chain data
- RLUSD market cap: about $1.7B (Ripple)
- Japanese venue: SBI VC Trade (VCTRADE)
- Regulatory category: electronic payment instrument, Payment Services Act
- XRPL vs Ethereum split of Japanese RLUSD: not disclosed
Flows and macro
US spot XRP ETFs posted about +$5.2M on June 23, per XRP Insights flow data. ETF buyers keep adding small amounts while spot price drifts, a quiet divergence worth noting.
Background: why Japan is a hard market
Japan was one of the first major economies to write stablecoin rules into law, with amendments to the Payment Services Act in 2022 that took effect in 2023. The rules only allow banks, trust companies and licensed money transmitters to issue stablecoins, and they put strict conditions on foreign-issued tokens offered locally. That's why so few dollar stablecoins have been available to Japanese retail users. RLUSD clearing the JFSA puts it in a small group.
What to watch next
- VCTRADE volumes for RLUSD, if SBI publishes them.
- SBI Remit and corridor use. SBI has run Ripple-based remittance services in Asia for years; adding RLUSD to those flows would be the real test.
- Retail uptake. Japan has a large and loyal XRP retail base. Whether those users adopt RLUSD alongside XRP is worth watching.
Key numbers at a glance
- XRP at about $1.11, down about 17% since June 1
- RLUSD at about $1.7B market cap
- ETF flows of about +$5.2M on June 23
- Two RLUSD regulatory milestones in two days: MiCA (preliminary, Ripple's license) and JFSA (RLUSD product approval)
The XRPTRACER take
Two regulatory approvals in two days, MiCA in Europe and JFSA in Japan, make RLUSD one of the most licensed stablecoins around. That's a strong base for Ripple's business. For XRP, the link remains indirect, and we'll keep measuring it the only honest way: RLUSD supply and volume on the XRP Ledger. Track it on the Dashboard.
Sources: Ripple: RLUSD launches in Japan with SBI · CoinGecko XRP history · XRP Insights ETF flows
Price is CoinGecko's daily snapshot at 00:00 UTC on June 24, 2026.
Not investment advice. See our Disclaimer.
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