Ripple USD
RLUSD#39RLUSD is the regulated US dollar stablecoin issued by Ripple.
- Market cap
- $2.5B
- Volume 24h
- $266.82M
- All-time high
- —
- Circulating supply
- 2.5B
Passes our Shariah screening. Needs caution: nature of the asset and usage. Fails: business model.
- 5 pass
- 2 caution
- 1 fail
Verdict history
- HalalCurrent
First publication
Fundamentals, market picture and news will appear here.
Halal analysis
Can a Muslim hold Ripple USD?8 Shariah criteria
5 pass · 2 caution · 1 failHolding RLUSD pays no interest: the reserve income stays with the issuer, and holders can only redeem at face value.
Riba means interest, or any fixed increase on a loan or an exchange of money. RLUSD's terms let customers redeem one token for one US dollar and state that the token gives no direct or indirect property interest in the reserve; they provide no interest or yield to holders. The reserve does earn interest, but that income belongs to the issuer and is assessed under the business model criterion; interest-bearing reserves count here only when the interest reaches the holder.
Malaysia's SC Shariah Advisory Council classes digital currency backed by currency as currency, so exchanging it follows the rules of currency exchange (bay' al-sarf: on the spot, and at equal amounts for the same currency); applying that ruling to RLUSD is Liberandum's reading. No interest reaches the holder, so the criterion is at the maximum. Lending RLUSD to others for a return is a separate matter, covered under trading mechanisms.
RLUSD is a redeemable claim on a segregated, independently examined reserve, but authorities disagree whether crypto tokens count as property (mal), and only approved institutions can redeem directly.
Each RLUSD is a claim on its issuer for one dollar. At 31 July 2026 a reserve with a market value of US$1.575 billion stood behind 1.464 billion tokens, a surplus of about 7.6%, and Deloitte gave a clean examination opinion. NYDFS rules require the reserve to be kept separate from the issuer's own assets and held with insured US banks or approved custodians. But holders do not own the reserve assets: the terms give them no property interest, and only approved business customers who pass bank-level checks can redeem with Ripple; everyone else relies on exchanges and partners.
On property (mal), Malaysia's SC Shariah Advisory Council recognises digital currencies as mal and classes currency-backed ones as currency, within the SC's jurisdiction; applying this to RLUSD is Liberandum's reading. State fatwa bodies in Egypt, the UAE, Indonesia and Turkey rejected cryptocurrency in general, and a 2026 Darul Uloom Karachi fatwa says crypto tokens are not mal. ShariaQuant also points out that RLUSD is a redemption claim rather than a bearer asset. CryptoUmmah, the authoritative source for RLUSD, rates it doubtful (mashbooh). The concrete, coin-specific reason for caution is that RLUSD is a redemption claim on its issuer that most holders cannot redeem directly, rather than ownership of the reserve.
RLUSD is built to stay at US$1, not to be bet on.
Maysir means gambling, or gains that depend purely on chance; ordinary price movement is not maysir. RLUSD traded at US$1.00 on 27 September 2026, and its lowest and highest prices on CoinGecko (about US$0.96 and US$1.07) were both in its first days of trading in December 2024. The reserve has exceeded the tokens in circulation at every report date, and the token is aimed at payments and settlement. Like other stablecoins it can be used as collateral for leveraged trading; that is a problem of those products, assessed separately below, not a gambling feature of the token.
With no chance-based feature in the token, the criterion is at the maximum.
The issuer's income from RLUSD is essentially interest: about 85% of the reserve is in Treasury bills and government money-market funds.
This criterion looks at how the company behind a token earns. If 5% or more of its income comes from clearly impermissible sources such as interest, the criterion fails. At 31 July 2026 the RLUSD reserve held US$1.078 billion of US Treasury bills (68.4%) and US$258 million of government money-market funds (16.4%), both of which earn interest, plus US$239 million of bank deposits (15.2%) whose terms are not disclosed. The terms give holders no share in this income, so it stays with the issuer, and Ripple publishes no separate revenue figures for RLUSD that would show another main source.
CryptoUmmah likewise ties the issuer's revenue to reserve interest. The counter-view is that holders receive none of the interest, which is why some scholars accept fiat stablecoins. The test still applies to the issuer, because the reserve behind every token is invested to earn interest. This is the most likely basis for CryptoUmmah's doubtful rating, and this criterion reflects it.
Supply and reserves are transparent: a segregated reserve of safe assets, itemised and examined by Deloitte every month.
Gharar means excessive uncertainty or lack of transparency in a deal. Ripple publishes a monthly reserve report that lists every Treasury bill by identifier and maturity, the money-market fund and bank deposit totals, and tokens outstanding, with an independent accountant examining the figures at two dates in the month under AICPA standards (Deloitte for the July 2026 report). NYDFS limits the reserve to short-term Treasuries, overnight Treasury repo, government money-market funds and bank deposits, kept apart from the issuer's own assets.
Some uncertainty remains: the issuer can freeze addresses and burn tokens, direct redemption is limited to approved institutions, CryptoUmmah cites CertiK data showing no third-party audit of the token contract and a high holder concentration, and supply grew from about 1.46 billion to about 2.4 billion between the latest examined report and early September 2026. None of this lets the issuer mint or move reserves without disclosure, so this is a pass, with the freeze and burn powers and the unaudited contract keeping it below the maximum.
RLUSD is built for institutional payments and settlement, but a large share of its supply has been deposited in interest-based lending on Aave.
RLUSD is designed for enterprise payments and settlement through Ripple's products, and regulators in Dubai's DIFC and Abu Dhabi's ADGM have recognised it for use by licensed firms. Payments and settlement are permissible uses in themselves. But a notable share of RLUSD goes to lending for interest: Aave reported about $800 million of RLUSD deposited on its lending markets, nearly two-thirds of RLUSD's supply at the time, and RLUSD was the largest supplied and most borrowed asset on Aave's institutional Horizon market in August 2026.
Lending RLUSD for interest is riba for the lender, and ShariaQuant also notes that holders can lend it on third-party platforms. Because interest-based lending is a notable share of use rather than the token's main purpose, the status is caution; this concrete use is also a likely part of CryptoUmmah's doubtful rating.
- Aave is Infrastructure for Scaling Stablecoins (Aave blog)
- RLUSD Hits $2.49B Market Cap, Up 86% in 2026 (KuCoin)
- Ripple's RLUSD recognized as Accepted Fiat-Referenced Token for use within Abu Dhabi's ADGM (Ripple)
- RLUSD Approved by the Dubai Financial Services Authority as Recognised Crypto Token (Ripple)
RLUSD can be bought outright and held in one's own wallet on the XRP Ledger or Ethereum.
This criterion asks only whether the token can be owned in a normal, fully paid way. RLUSD has been available for spot purchase since launch through platforms such as Uphold, Bitso, MoonPay, Archax and CoinMENA, and approved institutions can mint and redeem it directly with Ripple at US$1. Holders can keep it in their own wallets. It does not exist only as a leveraged or derivative product. Access varies by country, and its status under the EU's MiCA rules was not confirmed. Ownership itself is fully paid, so the criterion is at the maximum.
RLUSD offers a regulated, fully reserved digital dollar for payments; no sign that harm dominates was found.
Maslahah means weighing public benefit against harm. RLUSD's benefit is a supervised dollar token for faster cross-border payments and settlement, with a reserve held under NYDFS rules and recognition by regulators in the UAE free zones. Its compliance controls (identity checks for direct customers, and the power to freeze addresses and burn tokens) reduce the risk of misuse, although the same powers limit holders' control over their tokens. No source found RLUSD playing a notable role in scams or sanctions evasion; this was not measured specifically.
With no concrete harm found, the criterion is at the maximum.
How you can use it
Tap a card for the ruling and sourcesBuying RLUSD with full, immediate settlement is acceptable for an asset rated HALAL. If RLUSD is treated as money, it should be exchanged on the spot and at equal value for US dollars (the rules of currency exchange).
Not available: no exchange-traded fund holds RLUSD. A fund holding it would be judged like spot, and its own structure checked for interest income.
Paying with a regulated dollar token is its intended use, but Indonesia's ulema council (MUI) holds that using cryptocurrency as currency is haram, so payments are rated caution.
Not available natively: RLUSD is not a proof-of-stake coin, so there is no validation work to be paid for. Products marketed as "RLUSD staking" pay returns from lending, which falls under lending and yield.
Always fail: borrowing to trade with leverage, without full delivery.
Always fail: futures, perpetuals and options are deferred exchanges without delivery, with leverage.
Lending RLUSD for a return is interest on a loan of money (riba). ShariaQuant also rates earning yield by lending RLUSD as haram.
The issuer pays holders nothing. "Earn" and savings products on RLUSD get their return from lending it out, which is interest.
Scholars quotes
The opinion on this is the same as doing the same with any halal assets such as shares – 1) is permissible, 2) is more debatable and there are differing opinions on short-term trading.As I mentioned at the beginning of this article it is not necessary to substantiate the permissibility of something as long as there are no prohibited factors involved in it or surrounding it.Penggunaan cryptocurrency sebagai mata uang hukumnya haram, karena mengandung gharar (ketidakjelasan), dharar (bahaya) dan bertentangan dengan Undang-Undang nomor 7 tahun 2011 tentang Mata Uang dan Peraturan Bank Indonesia nomor 17 tahun 2015 tentang Kewajiban Penggunaan Rupiah di Wilayah Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia.Sebagaimana mata wang yang lain, mata wang digital hendaklah tidak digunakan sebagai bayaran kepada barangan, perkhidmatan dan aktiviti tidak patuh Syariah seperti pembelian dadah, pelacuran, perjudian dan pendanaan aktiviti keganasan serta penggubahan wang haram.If a digital currency is backed by ribawi items comprising gold, silver and currency, it is categorised as a currency from Shariah perspective. Hence, the trading of such digital currency is subject to the principle of bai` al-sarf.Third: In light of the above and given the significant risks associated with this type of currencies and the instability of their transactions, the Council of the Academy recommends pursuing research and studies on issues affecting its ruling.Bitcoin is a digital currency that does not meet the legal and Sharia criteria that make it a currency subject to the rulings of dealing with official legal currencies recognized internationally.بناءً على ذلك: فلا يجوز شرعًا تداول عملة "البتكوين" والتعامل من خلالها بالبيعِ والشراءِ والإجارةِ وغيرها، بل يُمنع من الاشتراكِ فيها؛ لعدمِ اعتبارِها كوسيطٍ مقبولٍ للتبادلِ من الجهاتِ المخُتصَّةِ، ولِمَا تشتمل عليه من الضررِ الناشئ عن الغررِ والجهالةِ والغشِّ في مَصْرِفها ومِعْيارها وقِيمتها، فضلًا عما تؤدي إليه ممارستُها من مخاطرَ عاليةٍ على الأفراد والدول.However, simply buying and holding RLUSD is rated Doubtful due to its asset qualification.According to research and opinion of experts so far, cryptocurrency is not considered ‘ maal ’ (wealth) in Sharia.Muhammadiyah memandang transaksi dan investasi kripto pada dasarnya mubah (boleh) tetapi dengan syarat tertentu.Our current position is 'tawaquf'; we can't say it is halal or haram, but we say it is better not to engage in itFiat-backed stablecoins are generally considered permissible, fully backed by the underlying currency or not, as long as this information is transparently disclosed to the users.AI-assisted analysis checked against sources. Not a fatwa or investment advice.
Where it trades
Section in preparation
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Halal verdict, same category