Ripple is getting into the stablecoin business. Several US media outlets are unanimously reporting this, quoting sources from the company. Unsurprisingly, this is a stablecoin issued in U.S. dollars. It will be backed 1:1 by fiat reserves, short-term U.S. government bonds and other cash. The launch is scheduled for later this year.

Ripple's network is based on its own XRP blockchain and Ethereum. Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple Labs, explained this in an interview with Bloomberg. Garlinghouse added that it has not yet been decided which exchange the stablecoin will launch on.

With this move, Ripple enters a new competition. Tether and Circle have dominated the stablecoin market for years. The tokens of the two providers USDT and USDC account for nearly 90 percent of the total market capitalization of about $150 billion.

Ripple now wants to break this concentration, and it is not alone in doing so. Last year, another financial giant, PayPal, stepped into the stablecoin race. A bold move from a regulatory perspective. After all, there are currently no clear rules in the form of separate regulations in the US.

Two bills are currently being debated in Washington: the Stablecoin Transparency Bill and the Clarity for Payment Stablecoin Act. In both cases, the proposals revolve around: necessary licenses for providers, reserves in fiat and how to prevent money laundering.

The industry is optimistic that progress can be made by the end of the year. This is also because the U.S. is under pressure to act because of the European crypto regulation MiCA.