Ripple’s RLUSD Hits Record High as UAE Opens the Door to Institutional Use

Ripple, the leading financial technology company specialising in blockchain-based payment solutions, has scored one of its biggest wins of the year. 

Abu Dhabi’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) has officially approved Ripple’s USD-backed stablecoin RLUSD as a Fiat-Referenced Token for use within the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). 

Ripple RLUSD Stablecoin Gains ADGM Approval

According to Ripple’s announcement, the FSRA has approved RLUSD as a Fiat-Referenced Token, allowing licensed firms inside Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to use the stablecoin for regulated financial activities. 

This means banks, fintech companies, and payment providers operating under FSRA rules can integrate RLUSD into compliant services, provided they meet regulatory requirements.

With ADGM known for its strict and progressive digital-asset framework, this recognition acts as a strong signal that RLUSD meets high standards of trust and transparency. 

Middle East Now Has a Trusted Ripple Stablecoin

RLUSD is issued under a New York DFS trust license and has already crossed a market cap of over $1.02 billion. Ripple says the stablecoin is fully backed by 1:1 USD backing in high-quality liquid assets, strict reserve controls, and clear redemption rights. 

Jack McDonald, Senior Vice President of Stablecoins at Ripple, says this approval shows how global regulators are warming up to stablecoins that follow strong compliance and reporting rules. 

With growing adoption in collateral use, payments, and settlement, RLUSD is now positioning itself as a leading USD stablecoin in the Middle Eastern region.

Abu Dhabi Backs Ripple Innovation

ADGM leaders welcomed Ripple’s new approval, saying it proves Abu Dhabi supports crypto innovation with clear rules. The region is growing fast in digital finance and attracting big fintech companies.

Ripple’s presence in the Middle East has also grown. The company recently signed major partnerships in Bahrain, onboarded Absa Bank in Africa as a custody client, and added UAE institutions like Zand Bank and Mamo to its payments network.

Following the approval, analysts say this approval will help more banks and payment firms use RLUSD. 

FAQs

RLUSD is Ripple’s USD-backed stablecoin designed for fast, regulated payments, fully backed 1:1 and built for global financial institutions.

Licensed banks and payment providers within the Abu Dhabi Global Market can now use RLUSD for regulated services, boosting its adoption for compliant financial activities in the region.

The approval boosts Ripple’s presence in the Middle East and encourages more banks and payment firms to adopt RLUSD for compliant transactions.

RLUSD distinguishes itself with direct regulatory approvals, like in Abu Dhabi, and a strict 1:1 reserve policy. This makes it a trusted choice for institutional use in regulated markets.

Ken Brown is the finance editor at The Information, recently opined that the current crypto winter could be more severe due to how interconnected crypto is with traditional finance.

"Crypto is more intertwined with the traditional financial system than ever before," he said during a recent interview. 

Major weak points 

Crypto winter is a phrase that people have used "a bunch of times", particularly after the FTX collapse, Brown explains. 

"Right now, we're in another bad sell-off. Crypto's down a bunch. The most speculative stuff is down a lot…There was a boom and prices went up a lot, and now they're coming off."

During the previous bull market, a lot of crypto assets were bought and sold speculatively. Some companies, like Strategy (MicroStrategy), invested heavily in crypto and pushed prices up by buying more as prices rose.

"By the structure of these things, as they go down, they drive crypto lower."

Large-scale runs on stablecoins could destabilize the broader market. He notes that stablecoins are increasingly used in countries with unstable currencies, making them systemically significant

Brown cites Silicon Valley Bank and Circle (issuer of the USDC stablecoin) as examples. Circle had billions of dollars at Silicon Valley Bank, which collapsed due to losses on its assets.

"A new kind of winter" 

"This is really what I call a new kind of winter because it's so interlinked. There's a ton of crypto on the stock market. There are these stable coins, there are other products, and everyone's issuing these stable coins."

"What I'm really looking at is how this sell-off, whether that ends now or keeps getting worse, interacts with the global financial system, the traditional financial system."

"The regulators of this system are very worried about this and are looking really carefully. This is a test. Pay attention. This is going to tell us how crypto and the traditional financial system are going to react this time," he added. 

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has moved 1,163 Bitcoin to a new wallet on Thursday, worth $105 million, signalling a possible custody strategy.

The move occurred in the early Asian hours, which is believed to have been transferred to Coinbase Prime for custody.

SpaceX() transferred out another 1,163 ($105.23M) 2 hours ago, possibly to Coinbase Prime for custody. — Lookonchain (@lookonchain)

Per , the transfer comes a month after the space exploration company sent massive amounts of Bitcoin to a new address in October. The transactions involved 1,215 BTC sent to multiple new addresses, totalling $133.7 million.

SpaceX’s wallet now holds a total of 6,095 Bitcoin worth almost $553 million, post the recent transfer. According to , SpaceX is placed fourth among privately held companies with Bitcoin treasuries.SpaceX BTC Flow – Custody Rather Than Selling

The SpaceX wallet was dormant for 3 years before resuming activity in late July 2025. The company once held as much as 25,000 BTC in 2022, but later consolidated and reduced its on-chain balance to current levels.

The reason for the latest transfers remains unclear. The company has not made any comments on whether the transfer indicates a sale, internal restructuring, or enhanced security measures for its crypto holdings.

However, analysts believe that the shuffle signals improved custody plans, rather than for liquidation purposes.

One user wrote that big transfers from companies like SpaceX denote they’re “positioning” for something. “Could be routine custody, but it still adds a layer of uncertainty you don’t want to ignore,” .

Further, the only certainty so far is that both receiving wallets remain untouched, no outgoing transfers, no exchange interaction, and no liquidation trails.

“When institutions like SpaceX move Bitcoin, they don’t do it impulsively,” wrote another user. “The market may need time to understand the purpose, but the signal is already there. Quiet transfers sometimes speak louder than announcements.”

For months, the SpaceX wallets sat perfectly still, no transfers, no experiments, no hints of intent. Then, just six hours ago, the silence broke. Without warning, 1,163 , over $105 million, was pushed out of storage and split between two completely fresh addresses. No… — EyeOnChain (@EyeOnChain)

Meanwhile, another Elon Musk-owned firm Tesla, maintains significant Bitcoin exposure. It currently holds 11,509 BTC, worth $1.05 billion, placing it in the 11th position among publicly traded firms holding Bitcoin.Bitcoin Pushes Above $90K, Rallies Over 4% in a Day

Bitcoin surged 4.35% over the last 24h, rebounding from a 19.76% monthly drop. This aligns with a 3.35% crypto market gain.

Bitcoin bounced from the $86k “support box” . The 24-hour rally faces resistance at $89k – a level Bitcoin must reclaim to target $93k. The largest crypto is trading at $91,230 at press time, per CoinMarketCap data.

Kevin Hassett, head of the White House National Economic Council, has suddenly become the market’s base case for the next Fed chair – and crypto investors are already gaming out what a “Hassett Fed” would mean. According to Bloomberg-sourced reporting, Hassett has “emerged as the frontrunner” for President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Federal Reserve, seen as the candidate most aligned with Trump’s preference for lower interest rates. Earlier disclosures showed Hassett previously served as an adviser to Coinbase and holds at least $1 million in Coinbase stock.

How Will Hassett Impact The Crypto Market?

For crypto allocators, that combination of macro dovishness and direct exposure to a major US exchange is the core of the bull case. Bitwise senior investment strategist Juan Leon put it bluntly on X: “If Kevin Hassett becomes Fed Chair, the implications for crypto are strongly bullish.” He calls Hassett an “aggressive ‘dove’ who has publicly criticized current rates for being too high and advocated for deeper, faster cuts,” highlighting that he “served on Coinbase’s advisory board and owns large stake in COIN,” and that he “led the White House digital asset working group to shape pro-crypto regulation.”

But the potential Hassett regime cannot be separated from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s emerging blueprint for the Fed. Bessent has been openly questioning the post-crisis operating framework. As Walter Bloomberg relayed from his CNBC appearance, “BESSENT ON FED: ‘AMPLE RESERVES REGIME’ MIGHT BE FRAYING.”

Forward Guidance host Felix Jauvin summarized the direction of travel in a post: “Bessent wants a fed chair that gets us out of balance sheet shenanigans and simplifying things to how they were pre-ample regime. Dovish FFR, hawkish balance sheet.” He added: “I don’t know if I can emphasize enough just how far away we are from any sort of QE copium.”

That framing matters for crypto. A Hassett Fed that cuts the policy rate faster in downturns is one thing; a return to full-blown quantitative easing is another. A “dovish FFR, hawkish balance sheet” mix would still be a friendlier macro environment than the post-2022 tightening cycle, but it is not a guaranteed repeat of the 2020–2021 liquidity wave that lifted every risk asset simultaneously.

Rate cuts without large-scale asset purchases support risk appetite and lower discount rates, yet they do not automatically recreate the extreme “everything rally” conditions that many in crypto implicitly associate with Fed dovishness.

The political logic behind Hassett’s rise has been described most clearly by macro commentator EndGame Macro (@onechancefreedm). In a thread, he argues that “Hassett isn’t leading because he’s the most academic or the most central bankerish. He’s leading because he checks the boxes Trump actually cares about.”

Trump, he writes, wants someone he already trusts, who has “spent years defending Trump publicly,” and who has been “openly critical of the Fed for being too slow, too cautious, and too political.” In that framework, “markets hear dovish. Trump hears I can deliver growth again. And crypto folks hear one of us.”

Markets are starting to agree. On Polymarket, contracts tracking the Fed chair race show Hassett around 53% at press time, reinforcing that shift from speculation to probabilistic base case.

Whether that translates into a genuine “explosion” in crypto will depend less on personalities than on the interaction of three forces: how aggressively a Hassett Fed actually cuts, how far Bessent is willing to go in shrinking or simplifying the balance sheet, and how markets reassess inflation, term premia and fiscal risk under a more overtly political central bank.

The odds market is signaling that crypto is moving closer to the center of US monetary power. The scale of any move in 2026 will be determined by the cycle – and by how a Hassett-led Fed balances “dovish rates” with “hawkish balance sheet” in practice.

At press time, the total crypto market cap stood at $2.96 trillion.

Grayscale has officially moved to bring privacy coins to Wall Street by launching the first spot Zcash ETF in the United States by converting its existing Zcash Trust. This is the same approach the company used with its Bitcoin Trust, which became the first U.S. Bitcoin spot ETF in 2024.

Here are the key details of the Grayscale spot ZEC ETF filing.

Grayscale’s Spot Zcash ETF Filing Details

Grayscale has officially filed to convert its current Zcash Trust into a spot ETF and list it on NYSE Arca under the ticker ZCSH. This upgrade would allow regular investors to gain direct exposure to ZEC through a regulated exchange product, similar to stocks or Bitcoin ETFs.

The fund will rely on trusted financial partners:

• Coinbase Custody will store the ZEC securely

• Coinbase will act as the prime broker

• Bank of New York Mellon will handle administration and transfers

As of November 25, the trust holds about 394,400 ZEC, worth nearly $199 million. This shows there is already strong investment backing before the ETF approval even arrives.

Why This Zcash ETF Matters for Wall Street

This move is significant because privacy coins have always faced extra regulatory challenges compared to other digital assets. With Grayscale stepping forward, it signals growing confidence that privacy-focused cryptocurrencies can exist within a compliance-friendly framework.

It also comes at a time when digital privacy is becoming a major global issue. If the SEC approves this fund, ZCSH would be the first Zcash ETF in the U.S., giving privacy coins a strong entry into mainstream finance.

ZEC Price Shows No Reaction, Why?

Despite the major ETF announcement, the Zcash ZEC price did not move up. As of now, the ZEC price is trading near $503, down about 1.4% over the last couple of hours. Some experts believe the small drop may simply be profit-taking after the strong surge since August

Altogether, it has gained over 1,000% in the past 3 months and 54% in the past month, beating both Bitcoin and Ethereum. Many now see Zcash as a true form of digital cash, not just a privacy-focused asset.

FAQs

The Grayscale Zcash ETF is a proposed spot fund that converts the existing Zcash Trust into a regulated product letting investors gain direct exposure to ZEC.

It’s the first attempt to bring a privacy coin to Wall Street via a spot ETF, signaling growing institutional confidence in compliant, privacy-focused digital assets for mainstream investors.

The ETF holds actual Zcash coins, stored by Coinbase Custody. You buy shares of the fund (ticker ZCSH), giving you price exposure to ZEC through your regular brokerage account.

Surprisingly, the price did not rise on the news, likely due to profit-taking after ZEC’s massive 1,000% price surge over the preceding three months.

Zcash has shown significant growth, outperforming Bitcoin and Ethereum recently. Its new ETF proposal could further legitimize it, but like all crypto, it carries high risk and volatility.

Legendary commodity trader Peter Brandt has predicted that XRP could do "quite well" in the months to come. 

Even though Brandt did not explicitly mention the Ripple-affiliated token, some sleuths were quick to figure out what specific chart he was referring to.

XRP is currently trading at $2.20, according to the most recent data provided by CoinGecko. 

No ETF-fueled rally 

So far, the Ripple-linked token has been struggling to revive its momentum even during the ongoing ETF hype. 

As reported by U.Today, Canary Capital, as well as some other issuers, recently had successful XRP launches. 

However, the token’s price action has been rather underwhelming due to the performance of the broader cryptocurrency market. 

Will the bulls be back in the driver’s seat? 

Now, it seems like the bulls might find themselves back in the driver’s seat, with Bitcoin reclaiming $91,000 and lifting other tokens, including XRP. 

Brandt’s pattern shows that the dominant pattern on the chart is a large symmetrical triangle formed over several years. 

The price action clearly shows a bullish breakout from this triangle pattern. 

After the initial impulsive breakout, the price is currently consolidating in a tight range near the highs. 

This specific formation looks like a bull flag, which is considered to be a bullish continuation pattern. 

The XRP price is so far down nearly 40% from its all-time high, which was logged on July 18.