Ripple (XRP) is strengthening its global footprint by expanding its stablecoin 'RLUSD' services in Turkey.

According to the overseas cryptocurrency media outlet Coingape, the market capitalization of RLUSD surpassed $1.8 billion on Tuesday (local time), securing its position among the top 10 dollar stablecoins. This growth is analyzed to be driven by the expanding interest of institutional investors in RLUSD and XRP.

In an official announcement on June 2 (local time), Ripple stated that it will provide RLUSD through three new Turkish partners: BiLira, Bitexen, and Bitlo. This allows local traditional financial institutions to easily access RLUSD.

In Turkey, amid high inflation and the depreciation of the Lira, virtual assets are widely used as tools for asset management and hedging against volatility. According to Chainalysis data, Turkey is considered a major market with an annual virtual asset transaction volume reaching approximately $200 billion.

Ripple has enhanced the accessibility of XRP and RLUSD by adding on-chain features to its treasury management system. RLUSD, issued on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and Ethereum, supports fast and low-cost payments, offering a regulated and transparent alternative backed 1:1 by US dollar deposits, US Treasury bonds, and cash equivalents.

Jack McDonald, Senior Vice President of Stablecoin at Ripple, told Coingape, "RLUSD serves as an important bridge for payments, tokenization, and collateral management, and is rapidly gaining attention in financial use cases," adding, "With growing demand from global enterprises, the Turkey launch will serve as a milestone for expansion."

Currently, RLUSD is also available on major global exchanges, including Binance, Bitso, Bitstamp, Bybit, Gemini, Kraken, LMAX, and OKX.

Meanwhile, alongside the expansion of RLUSD in Turkey, Ripple has selected Istanbul Technical University (ITU) as a new partner for the University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI). This partnership aims to support advanced research and graduate scholarships through stablecoin funds. Ripple and ITU plan to establish an XRP Ledger validator on the university campus and nurture new blockchain initiatives with next-generation researchers and students, bridging academic research and decentralized infrastructure.

On this day, the price of XRP showed a sideways trend around $1.26, despite various positive news such as Calcs' application to list XRP futures. The 24-hour high and low were recorded at $1.31 and $1.26, respectively, while trading volume increased by 55% during the same period.

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