Ripple acquired an equity stake in Flutterwave on June 16, 2026, joining the African payments company's Series E round at a $3.2 billion valuation and committing to embed RLUSD and the XRP Ledger into Flutterwave's payments infrastructure.

Financial terms of the stake were not disclosed. The deal designates RLUSD as the stablecoin settlement layer for Flutterwave's cross-border transactions, starting with Nigeria as the first deployment market.

The investment arrives as RLUSD reaches $1.6 billion in circulating supply, up more than 20% year-to-date per RWA.xyz data cited by CoinDesk. RWA.xyz placed the figure at $1,637,050,905 as of June 17, 2026, with the stablecoin running on both the XRP Ledger and Ethereum.

Flutterwave operates across 35 African countries and has processed more than one billion transactions totalling over $50 billion since its founding. Those are cumulative historical figures, not current throughput capacity. The company has raised more than $500 million in total capital.

The integration works at the infrastructure level. Flutterwave will connect its domestic network to Ripple Payments through a unified API. Transactions settle on the XRP Ledger. RLUSD becomes the primary settlement asset for merchants and remittance corridors, replacing correspondent banking on high-volume channels.

Reece Merrick, Ripple's managing director for the Middle East and Africa, said in the press release: "Flutterwave has built one of the most advanced payments networks in Africa, and as its infrastructure evolves, stablecoins are becoming central to that story. Our investment will establish RLUSD within that infrastructure, with Flutterwave driving stablecoin flows over the XRPL and deepening its role as a settlement layer for real-world payments across the continent."

Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola confirmed the investment but declined to disclose the stake size or investment amount.

Global stablecoin supply now exceeds $300 billion, and RLUSD holds a small share of that pool. Placing it inside a network that has moved more than $50 billion across 35 countries is a structural question: whether a crypto-native settlement layer can hold its own at the volume and cadence of an established fiat rail. Nigeria is where that test begins.

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- claim: Ripple acquired equity stake in Flutterwave's Series E
  value: confirmed; financial terms not disclosed
  source: PRNewswire (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ripple-participates-in-flutterwaves-series-e-with-strategic-investment-to-accelerate-african-stablecoin-payments-302801599.html)
  retrieved: 2026-06-18

- claim: Flutterwave Series E valuation
  value: $3.2 billion
  source: PRNewswire (above), CoinDesk (https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/06/16/ripple-invests-in-flutterwave-pushing-its-stablecoin-and-xrp-ledger-into-payments-across-africa)
  retrieved: 2026-06-18

- claim: RLUSD circulating supply as of 2026-06-17
  value: $1,637,050,905
  source: RWA.xyz (https://app.rwa.xyz/stablecoins), as_of 2026-06-17
  retrieved: 2026-06-18

- claim: RLUSD year-to-date growth
  value: over 20%
  source: CoinDesk (above), citing RWA.xyz
  retrieved: 2026-06-18

- claim: Flutterwave cumulative transaction volume
  value: over 1 billion transactions totalling over $50 billion
  source: PRNewswire (above)
  retrieved: 2026-06-18

- claim: Flutterwave total capital raised
  value: over $500 million
  source: PRNewswire (above)
  retrieved: 2026-06-18

- claim: Flutterwave countries of operation
  value: 35 African nations
  source: Cryptonomist (https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2026/06/17/ripple-flutterwave-partnership-rlusd-africa/)
  retrieved: 2026-06-18

- claim: Nigeria as initial deployment market
  value: Nigeria identified as initial strategic target
  source: Cryptonomist (above)
  retrieved: 2026-06-18

- claim: Global stablecoin supply
  value: exceeds $300 billion
  source: CoinDesk (above)
  retrieved: 2026-06-18

- claim: Announcement date
  value: June 16, 2026
  source: PRNewswire (above), CoinDesk (above)
  retrieved: 2026-06-18

- claim: Reece Merrick quote
  value: "Flutterwave has built one of the most advanced payments networks in Africa, and as its infrastructure evolves, stablecoins are becoming central to that story. Our investment will establish RLUSD within that infrastructure, with Flutterwave driving stablecoin flows over the XRPL and deepening its role as a settlement layer for real-world payments across the continent."
  source: PRNewswire (above); quote opening confirmed verbatim in fetch result
  retrieved: 2026-06-18

- claim: Flutterwave CEO confirmed deal, declined to disclose stake size
  value: Olugbenga Agboola confirmed investment; specific amount and shareholding percentage not disclosed
  source: Cryptonomist (above)
  retrieved: 2026-06-18