Gate has listed RLUSD, Ripple’s U.S. dollar–backed stablecoin, on its platform. The exchange introduced four spot trading pairs: BTC/RLUSD, ETH/RLUSD, XRP/RLUSD, and RLUSD/USDT. Trading started on June 15, allowing users to price major crypto assets directly against RLUSD.
RLUSD is issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company, a Ripple Labs subsidiary. It is backed one-to-one with U.S. dollar deposits, short-term Treasuries, and cash equivalents. The issuer also publishes monthly attestations to confirm reserves. Since its launch in December 2024, RLUSD has grown to more than $1.6 billion in market value, supported by demand from payments and institutional DeFi use cases.
In this listing, RLUSD is used as the base trading asset. This means traders can now use it as a reference point when moving between major cryptocurrencies instead of relying only on other stablecoins.
A new stablecoin joins the Gate ecosystem. Ripple’s $RLUSD is landing now.
Starting June 15 at 09:00 UTC, trade $RLUSD against $USDT, $BTC, $ETH, and $XRP.
Early participants can also enjoy exclusive rewards and ecosystem incentives.
Learn more: https://t.co/2FWin69fdT pic.twitter.com/TLXguJMz8R
— Gate (@Gate) June 15, 2026
Gate launches 750,000 RLUSD incentives to drive trading activity
To support the listing, Gate has introduced a reward program worth 750,000 RLUSD. The program is designed to increase trading activity across RLUSD pairs.
Retail users can earn rewards through the CandyDrop system. High-volume traders will receive VIP airdrops. The exchange has also introduced trading and withdrawal fee reductions tied to RLUSD activity.
The incentives focus on trading pairs like BTC, ETH, and XRP against RLUSD. However, trades between stablecoins are not included in the reward system. This is meant to reduce artificial trading volume and keep activity more connected to real market demand.
Fee reductions will also roll out in phases. These changes are aimed at making it easier for users to move funds between wallets, exchanges, and on-chain platforms.
Exchanges take a bigger role in stablecoin growth
The RLUSD launch also shows that exchanges are becoming important drivers of stablecoin usage. Instead of only relying on issuers, platforms now use incentives, trading rewards, and fee cuts to attract users.
This approach helps boost liquidity in new trading pairs and encourages users to actively trade stablecoins within exchange ecosystems. It also shifts stablecoin growth toward trading behaviour rather than only issuance or institutional adoption.
Similar programs have been widely used across major crypto exchanges to boost early liquidity for new tokens and stablecoins. Binance has run structured airdrop campaigns and trading incentives for new listings to increase early market activity.
OKX has also introduced reward pools and trading competitions tied to newly listed assets to drive user participation. KuCoin and Bybit have similarly used liquidity mining programs and fee discounts to attract traders during early launch phases.
Notably, Gate upgraded its prediction markets product, adding new tools aimed at faster event discovery, more trading options, and deeper integration with third-party markets like Polymarket.
Enjoyed this? Bookmark DeFi Planet, explore related topics, and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Threads and CoinMarketCap Community for seamless access to high-quality industry insights
Take control of your crypto portfolio with DEFI PLANET PRO, DeFi Planet’s suite of analytics tools.
