Ripple secures 3 regulatory wins as XRP awaits CLARITY Act vote

Ripple won regulatory clearance for its RLUSD stablecoin in Japan and a provisional CASP license in Luxembourg within three days, as the US Senate prepares to vote on the CLARITY Act between July 13 and Aug. 4.

"Japan has long been a leader in digital asset adoption, underpinned by both regulatory clarity and financial innovation," Jack McDonald, senior vice president of stablecoins at Ripple, said.

Japan's Financial Services Agency classified RLUSD as an electronic payment instrument on June 25, clearing distribution through SBI VC Trade with an initial transaction cap of 1 million yen. Two days later, Luxembourg's CSSF granted Ripple a provisional CASP license enabling operations across all 30 European Economic Area countries — days before the July 1 MiCA compliance deadline for unlicensed stablecoin issuers. RLUSD is fully backed by US dollar deposits and short-term Treasuries, with monthly attestations ensuring transparency.

The regulatory trifecta comes as XRP trades at $1.04, down 72% from its July 2025 peak of $3.65 and within striking distance of its 52-week low. The relative strength index hovers near 31, teetering on oversold territory, while the broader Crypto Fear & Greed Index remains stuck between 12 and 18 — extreme fear. Despite the price malaise, US spot XRP ETFs attracted $46.5 million in net inflows in June alone, bringing cumulative net inflows to $1.43 billion since the products launched in November 2025. Total assets under management now stand at roughly $928 million, contrasting sharply with recent outflows from Bitcoin-linked funds.

CLARITY Act odds narrow as Senate calendar tightens

The next major catalyst for XRP may come from Washington. The Senate is expected to vote on the CLARITY Act between July 13 and Aug. 4, a bill that would classify digital assets such as XRP as commodities. Standard Chartered analysts project that a positive outcome could trigger ETF inflows of between $4 billion and $8 billion, a sum that would likely reverse the current downtrend.

Yet the bill's path has narrowed. Galaxy Digital cut its estimate of passage this year to 50%, down from 60% earlier in June, citing Senate scheduling constraints and President Donald Trump's new demands tying a housing bill to the contentious SAVE Act. Polymarket participants price the probability at just 44%. The legislation remains stalled on the Senate calendar after advancing out of the Banking Committee in mid-May, with no procedural motions to initiate debate filed.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse used a CNBC appearance on June 27 to push back against what he called "financial engineering" in the market, singling out MicroStrategy's preferred-stock leverage model as a threat to stability. He framed RLUSD as a utility-first tool for instant settlement and lower capital lock-up — a deliberate departure from speculative structures.

RLUSD expands globally as on-chain metrics show cooling

RLUSD's market cap has slipped to about $1.59 billion from an all-time high of $1.8 billion in early June, according to DefiLlama data, though it remains up roughly 271% over the past year. The Japan entry follows RLUSD's global expansion into other regulated markets and fulfills a memorandum of understanding signed between Ripple and SBI in August 2025, building on a partnership that dates back to 2016.

Behind the scenes, Ripple is also preparing a substantial network upgrade. The developer community is signaling broad support for two new protocols that would enable native lending directly on the XRP Ledger. Users would deposit assets such as XRP into liquidity pools and earn yields, while borrowers gain access to fixed-rate loans — all settled on-chain without the need for external smart contracts.

For now, all eyes are on the first full week of RLUSD trading in Japan, beginning June 30, as the clearest near-term gauge of whether Ripple's regulatory wins can translate into real on-chain volume. If the CLARITY Act passes and Ripple has secured regulatory approvals in advance, XRP could see significantly increased institutional demand — potentially reshaping the token's trajectory after a year of steep declines.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.