ISTANBUL

Ripple Labs, a US-based technology company that has developed the Ripple payment protocol and exchange network, said Friday it started testing its stablecoin, RLUSD, on XRP Ledger and Ethereum blockchain networks.

"Testing, testing…RLUSD! We’re excited to share that Ripple USD (RLUSD) is now in private beta on XRP Ledger and Ethereum mainnet," it wrote on X.

The company, however, noted that RLUSD has not yet received regulatory approval, and it is not available for purchase or trading.

It warned users to be cautious of scammers who claim they have or can distribute Ripple USD.

"This is a significant milestone and a step closer to bringing more high-quality assets to the XRPL, driving new opportunities, liquidity, and institutional use cases for users, developers, and applications," the company said in a statement on its website.

The mainnet version of Ripple USD is also available on Ethereum, while there are plans to expand to other blockchains and decentralized finance protocols, it added.

Ripple USD is currently in the beta phase, and it is being tested by the company's partners, which is crucial for ensuring that the stablecoin meets the highest standards of security, efficiency and reliability before it becomes widely available, and after receipt of regulatory approval, said the statement.

Stablecoins are designed to be pegged one-to-one with the US dollar to ease exchange for crypto users and investors.

Ripple Labs was fined $125 million on Wednesday after four years of litigation with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The ruling pushed up the price of XRP, its native cryptocurrency, for a daily gain of 23%.