Standard Chartered Launches Institutional Custody for Ripple's RLUSD in Dubai
The bank's DIFC branch will custody RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, while a planned collateral-mirroring integration with Ripple and LMAX remains subject to documentation, testing and approvals.
DUBAI — Standard Chartered announced on Oct. 12 that its Dubai-based DIFC branch has launched institutional custody support for Ripple USD, or RLUSD, on the XRP Ledger. The service is aimed at institutional clients that need a bank custody arrangement for a dollar-denominated digital asset rather than holding the token directly through a crypto-native custodian.
The bank is also working with Ripple and LMAX Group on a collateral-mirroring model that could let clients use RLUSD as eligible collateral for trading without transferring the underlying assets to the venue. That second piece is not live: Standard Chartered said it remains subject to final documentation, testing and regulatory approvals.
The distinction between custody and collateral use matters. Custody is the service Standard Chartered says it has launched; collateral mirroring is a planned market-infrastructure connection that still needs to be completed. The two announcements together show how banks are trying to put stablecoins into institutional workflows without asking clients to abandon existing custody and risk controls.
The launch also comes with the usual limits of a bank-specific digital-asset service. It does not make RLUSD a deposit, and the announcement does not disclose pricing, client volumes or the full eligibility criteria. Institutions will still need to evaluate the token's redemption, legal and counterparty arrangements alongside the custody service.