XRP Treasury Company VivoPower Now Supports RLUSD Payments, But Not XRP

Prominent XRP treasury company VivoPower International announced that its electric vehicle subsidiary now accepts payments in Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin.  VivoPower unveiled the initiative yesterday, emphasizing that customers and partners of its electric vehicle subsidiary, Tembo, can now make payments in RLUSD. The support addresses inefficiencies in the cross-border payments sector, encompassing high transaction costs and lengthy wait times. RLUSD to Address Inefficiencies in Traditional Transfers The firm stated that these inefficiencies are evident in developing markets where its customers and partners incur high transaction costs. However, Tembo aims to streamline its international payment processes via RLUSD integration. It highlighted that RLUSD offers near-instant settlement at a fraction of the cost for traditional transfers. The press release also highlighted RLUSD’s key features, including its 1:1 peg to the US dollar. It also mentioned that the stablecoin is backed by short-term U.S. treasuries, USD deposits, and other cash equivalents. Beyond reducing VivoPower’s transaction costs, the adoption of RLUSD aims to improve efficiency, foster innovation, and expand the company’s digital treasury. Top Lawyer Reacts The announcement drew attention from the XRP community. Some proponents interpret the move as a positive development for the token. Meanwhile, legal expert Bill Morgan clarified that VivoPower’s subsidiary, Tembo, only supports RLUSD payment, not XRP itself. This clarification is important as some community members often assume that businesses adopting Ripple-related payment solutions also use XRP directly. In this case, VivoPower’s subsidiary adopted Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD as a payment method.. https://twitter.com/Belisarius2020/status/1965152741241880738 Limited Impact on XRP? Although Ripple issues RLUSD on both the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and Ethereum, Morgan points out that the majority of its supply has been minted on Ethereum. This suggests that the latest RLUSD adoption may have a limited direct impact on XRP, given the stablecoin’s heavier presence on Ethereum. Earlier speculation suggested that rising demand for RLUSD could boost XRP activity. This is partly because transactions involving RLUSD on the XRPL require fees to be paid in XRP, which also drives demand for the native token. However, since RLUSD is primarily minted on Ethereum, as Morgan suggested, VivoPower’s adoption of the stablecoin may have only a limited impact on XRP. At the time of writing, RLUSD has a total market capitalization of $728.33 million. XRP trades at $3.03, up over 4% today. Meanwhile, VivoPower is no stranger to the XRP community. Following its $121 million fundraiser, VivoPower disclosed plans to establish an XRP-focused reserve. It also unveiled plans to acquire $100 million worth of Ripple shares, alongside 211 million XRP tokens from the company’s holdings at discounted rates.