Standard Chartered to Offer Custody of Ripple’s Stablecoin to Institutional Clients in Dubai
Standard Chartered is set to provide institutional clients in Dubai with custody services for Ripple’s dollar-pegged stablecoin, RLUSD. The bank aims to enable these clients to trade the tokens without the need to transfer them to an exchange.
Digital Asset Custody Infrastructure Expanded
The British bank announced Monday that it now supports institutional custody of Ripple USD (RLUSD), issued on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). This offering grants eligible clients access to Standard Chartered’s digital asset custody infrastructure. The service is being rolled out through the bank’s branch in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), which operates under the regulation of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).
Custody in finance refers to the secure holding of assets by a regulated institution, which assumes responsibility for their safekeeping. While the institution manages and safeguards the assets, it also gains the authority to supervise, freeze, and control funds under its custody.
RLUSD is a stablecoin, a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value pegged at $1. It is backed by U.S. dollars, U.S. government bonds, and cash equivalents. Ripple launched RLUSD in December 2024 on both Ethereum and the XRP Ledger, a public blockchain closely associated with Ripple. Standard Chartered’s new service specifically covers the XRP Ledger version of the stablecoin.
Integration with LMAX Group for Collateral Use
In parallel, Standard Chartered has joined a planned integration with LMAX Group, a London-based marketplace for currencies and cryptocurrencies. This collaboration is intended to make RLUSD eligible as collateral on agreed LMAX products. Collateral, also known as margin, is funds deposited by a trader with a trading venue as a safeguard against potential losses.
Under a system Standard Chartered terms “collateral mirroring,” RLUSD will remain in the bank’s custody. LMAX will receive a mirrored record of the collateral’s value, which will then count towards the client’s trades. This arrangement means the stablecoins themselves will not be transferred to the exchange.
The collateral mirroring mechanism offers a potential advantage in the event of an exchange failure. If an exchange were to collapse, a trader’s collateral would remain secured at Standard Chartered, a bank designated by the Financial Stability Board as one of the 29 institutions considered “too big to fail” and subject to more stringent capital regulations.
Waqar Chaudry, who leads digital assets within the bank’s securities services unit, stated, “Institutional clients want to participate in digital asset markets without compromising on how their assets are safeguarded.”
Standard Chartered has been providing crypto custody services in Dubai since 2024. In July, the bank announced it was the first globally systemically important bank to allow institutions to mint and redeem Circle’s USDC directly.
RLUSD received regulatory approval from Dubai authorities in June 2025. The integration with LMAX is not yet operational. The bank indicated that the process is subject to final documentation, testing, and regulatory approvals, and did not provide a specific timeline for when clients will be able to use RLUSD as margin.
