Standard Chartered Adds Ripple’s RLUSD to Institutional Custody

The new service allows institutional clients to hold RLUSD, which is issued on the XRP Ledger, through the bank’s Dubai International Financial Centre branch, regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority. While the custody infrastructure is currently operational, the bank is simultaneously developing a collateral-mirroring model. This system aims to let institutions deploy the value of their RLUSD holdings to support trading positions on LMAX Group platforms while the underlying tokens remain safely stored under the bank’s supervision.

Waqar Chaudry, global head of digital assets at Standard Chartered, noted that institutional investors are seeking ways to access digital markets without sacrificing established risk management protocols. By keeping assets with a regulated custodian, firms aim to mitigate the operational risks typically associated with moving tokens between exchanges. This initiative builds on a broader January 2026 partnership between Ripple and LMAX, which included $150 million in financing to bolster institutional infrastructure for spot and derivative trading.

Implementation of the collateral-mirroring function remains subject to final legal documentation, internal approvals, and technical testing. Neither the bank nor its partners have provided a specific timeline for the launch of these collateral services or disclosed the current volume of RLUSD held under custody. This expansion follows Standard Chartered’s earlier move to provide digital asset services in Luxembourg and its established framework for collateral management with partners like OKX.