From $75 Million to $250 Million in Nine Months
Ripple and Gemini first entered a credit agreement in July 2025, with an initial commitment of $75 million to finance Gemini’s credit card receivables. The facility allowed borrowing in increments of at least $5 million, with the option to expand to $150 million if Gemini met certain performance metrics. Borrowings beyond the initial threshold could be denominated in RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar-pegged stablecoin.
That arrangement changed materially in December 2025. According to Gemini’s Form 10 filing with the SEC on March 31, 2026, the facility was amended to temporarily raise the total commitment to $250 million, effective through July 1, 2026. As of December 31, Gemini held $154.1 million in outstanding borrowings under the facility, with $188.8 million in credit card receivables pledged as collateral. Gemini had purchased nearly $219.8 million in credit card customer receivables by year-end, part of which is pledged under the Ripple arrangement.
Table 1 — Ripple-Gemini Credit Facility: Key Terms
| Term | Original (July 2025) | Amended (December 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Total commitment | $75M (up to $150M) | $250M (through July 1, 2026) |
| Interest rate | 6.5% per annum | 7.0% per annum |
| Penalty rate (if conditions unmet) | — | 10.0% if >$150M outstanding after July 2 |
| RLUSD collateral requirement | Optional beyond $75M threshold | Min. 20% of outstanding loan balance |
| RLUSD holding requirement | None | Min. $50M on Gemini platform (from Jan. 11, 2026) |
Tighter Terms, Higher Stakes
The amended terms shift the deal from a straightforward credit facility into a mechanism that directly incentivizes RLUSD adoption on Gemini’s platform. The revised agreement introduced three new RLUSD-linked conditions.
First, Gemini is required to hold a minimum of $50 million in RLUSD within its exchange wallets at all times, a condition that took effect on January 11, 2026. Second, RLUSD must be used as collateral at a minimum of 20% of the outstanding loan balance, held under a qualified custodian regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). Third, the agreement includes RLUSD activity thresholds — minimum usage levels within the platform — with failure to meet them potentially triggering penalties or default conditions.
On the cost side, the base interest rate rose from 6.5% to 7.0% per annum. If Gemini has not reduced its outstanding borrowings to $150 million or less by July 2, the rate escalates to 10.0%. Gemini’s own filing acknowledges that availability of borrowings under the facility could be limited and its cost of capital could increase under the new terms.
What This Means for RLUSD
The amended structure turns Gemini into a contractual distribution channel for RLUSD. Holding requirements, collateral mandates, and usage thresholds all create direct, ongoing demand for the stablecoin as a condition of maintaining access to the credit line.
Gemini has separately expanded RLUSD’s role on its platform: it now serves as a base currency for all spot trading pairs for U.S. customers, integrating the stablecoin into the exchange’s core trading infrastructure. The $680 million RLUSD integration allows traders to move between RLUSD and other assets without conversion steps, a structural change that increases the stablecoin’s daily velocity on the platform.
Ripple launched RLUSD in December 2024 as a regulated, dollar-pegged stablecoin issued under NYDFS oversight, competing directly with USDC and USDT in the institutional and exchange settlement market. The Gemini credit facility gives RLUSD a captive use case on one of the largest U.S.-regulated exchanges, at a scale and consistency that organic adoption would be unlikely to replicate in the same timeframe.
The Broader Ripple-Gemini Relationship
The credit facility is one of several ties between Ripple and Gemini. The two companies have also launched an XRP rewards credit card for U.S. customers, and Gemini’s platform now supports XRP as a rewards asset. The partnership has deepened significantly since Gemini filed its IPO documents on Nasdaq under the ticker GEMI in mid-2025, a period when the exchange was also reporting a net loss of $282.5 million for the first half of that year.
Ripple’s position as Gemini’s primary credit provider — now at $250 million — makes it one of the most significant institutional backers of the exchange ahead of any potential public offering. The amended terms suggest that Ripple is using that position actively, not just as a passive lender but as a mechanism to deepen RLUSD’s presence in U.S. crypto infrastructure.
