Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin expands to Turkey through three local platforms

Ripple’s dollar-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, is expanding into Turkey through partnerships with BiLira, Bitexen and Bitlo, the company said in an email to CoinDesk.

RLUSD has grown to about $1.7 billion in market capitalization since starting up in late 2024, onchain data shows. The company pitches the token for payments, tokenization and collateral use, areas where dollar stablecoins have become core market infrastructure for crypto firms and trading desks.

Turkey is a useful market for that push. The country remains one of the largest crypto markets in the Middle East and North Africa, with nearly $200 billion in annual transaction volume, according to Chainalysis data cited by Ripple. Local demand for dollar-linked crypto products has also been shaped by inflation, currency volatility and growing regulation of digital asset platforms.

The partnerships add RLUSD to BiLira, which issues the Turkish lira stablecoin TRYB and operates a local OTC desk, as well as Bitexen and Bitlo.

RLUSD, the eighth-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, according to CoinMarketCap data, is also available globally through exchanges including Binance, Bitstamp, Bybit, Gemini, Kraken and OKX. The market is dominated by the $188 billion USDT, issued by Tether.

Ripple also said Istanbul Technical University will join its University Blockchain Research Initiative, with funding provided in RLUSD. The partnership will support research, graduate fellowships and an XRP Ledger validator on campus.