XRP futures contracts began trading on CME Group’s derivatives platform on May 19, recording at least $1.5 million in trading volume during the first session, a modest but notable debut for the major token.

CME data shows 4 standard contracts (each representing 50,000 XRP) traded on day one, totaling around $480,000 in notional volume at an average price of $2.40. The majority of activity came from 106 micro contracts (2,500 XRP each), accounting for over $1 million in additional volume.

The contracts are cash-settled and benchmarked to the CME CF XRP-Dollar Reference Rate, which is published daily at 4:00 P.M. London time. CME’s dual contract structure is designed to attract both institutional players and smaller participants, offering flexibility for various hedging and trading strategies.

«The launch of regulated XRP Futures on @CMEGroup marks a key institutional milestone for XRP,» Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse posted on X on Monday. He added that Hidden Road executed the first block trade.

The listing follows the CFTC’s classification of XRP as a commodity, a regulatory green light that cleared the path for CME to offer these products.

Analysts say the debut could also strengthen the case for a spot XRP ETF, with ETF Store president Nate Geraci saying such a product is “only a matter of time.”

While early volumes may appear modest, XRP’s inclusion on CME widens market dynamics for the major token in terms of price discovery, similar to how price-action on BTC and ETH futures is impacted when the U.S. market opens.

The U.S. Senate voted to move ahead on stablecoin legislation Monday night, removing a procedural barrier to ultimately passing the bill out of the body entirely.

Senators easily cleared the 60-vote threshold for the vote, which is intended to just move the legislation to a period of further debate before a final vote series to pass it out of the Senate. The House of Representatives is working its way through its own version of stablecoin legislation, which is intended to create a regulatory framework for stablecoins and their issuers in the U.S.

The Senate previously failed to reach the 60-vote threshold to advance the bill during a vote on May 8, after Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about consumer protection and national security provisions. That vote had failed on a bipartisan basis, after Republicans Josh Hawley and Rand Paul also voted against cloture.

Despite that earlier setback, industry participants expected easy passage on Monday after lawmakers spent much of the last week negotiating changes in language, though many of these changes seemed marginal.

One individual following the negotiations told CoinDesk that «there’s enough» in the newest version of the bill to address some of Democrats’ concerns earlier on Monday, though the lawmakers negotiating language could have added more hefty consumer protection provisions.

After that latest overhaul, several Democratic lawmakers who previously voted against cloture, including Senators Ruben Gallego and Mark Warner, announced they would vote in favor of cloture ahead of the vote.

Crypto infrastructure provider StraitsX debuted its Singapore dollar-pegged stablecoin, XSGD, on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) to cater to growing demand for regulated multi-chain stablecoins supporting real-time cross-border payments.

Digital asset developers, fintechs firms and financial institutions can use XSGD to conduct cross-border transactions, settle transactions on-chain and create programmable financial flows. XGSD is being powered by XRPL, a decentralized public blockchain from Ripple.

StraitsX, a major payment institution licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, began issuing XSGD in 2020. The stablecoin pegged to the Singapore dollar is fully backed 1:1 by reserves held with DBS Bank and Standard Chartered.

As of writing, XSGD had a total supply of 14.12 million, with an onchain transaction count exceeding 8 billion. The stablecoin is available on Arbitrum, Avalanche, Ethereum, Polygon, Hedera and Zilliqa.

«At StraitsX, we’ve always approached stablecoins not just as digital representations of fiat, but as critical infrastructure for the future of financial markets. Launching XSGD on the XRP Ledger is a meaningful step toward that vision – an expansion of interoperability, programmability, and access across networks that were purpose-built for real-world value exchange,» Co-Founder and deputy of StaitsX, Liu Tianwei, told CoinDesk.

Regulated stablecoins like XSGD are better positioned to see increased adoption in the expected boom in cross-border economic activity in the coming years. For instance, per some estimates, cross-border e-commerce in Asia is expected to surpass $4 trillion by 2030. Meanwhile, global cross-border payments are projected to hit $250 trillion by 2027, according to a report published by Infosys Finacle last year.

The report mentioned Ripple while discussing various methods fintechs employ for money transfer. The report said that Ripple’s real-time settlement of funds «eliminates the need for pre-funding destination accounts and supports low-cost payments within seconds.»

Opening move

The debut of XSGD on the XRP Ledger marks the beginning of a series of upcoming rollouts outlined under the strategic partnership, the press release said.

In June, StraitsX plans to introduce a second phase focused on institutional applications, including programmable payouts, merchant settlements, and seamless compliance integrations for various financial workflows.

«StraitsX’s launch of XSGD on the XRP Ledger underscores that digital assets, including stablecoins, could play a pivotal role in payments» said Fiona Murray, managing director of APAC at Ripple.

«We are seeing a growing appetite for stablecoins like XSGD to support enterprise-grade use cases across payments, liquidity, and compliance-first infrastructure. Our collaboration with StraitsX to bring XSGD to the XRP Ledger supports our commitment to delivering regulated assets that can reshape cross-border payments and unlock value for financial institutions,» Murray added.