Standard Chartered custody service goes live
Standard Chartered has started institutional custody for Ripple USD (RLUSD) on the XRP Ledger. The service runs through the bank’s Dubai International Financial Centre branch, which is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority. Eligible clients can hold and manage RLUSD through Standard Chartered’s digital asset custody setup. The bank says the service is live now.
Ripple’s senior vice president of stablecoins, Jack McDonald, said RLUSD was designed for institutional use cases. Standard Chartered’s global head of digital assets, Waqar Chaudry, said institutional clients want to take part in digital asset markets without giving up safeguards or risk controls. The launch gives those clients a banking-regulated route to hold a dollar-backed token.
LMAX plans RLUSD collateral use
The next phase involves LMAX Group, which runs an institutional trading marketplace. Under the planned arrangement, clients could keep RLUSD at Standard Chartered and use its value as collateral on LMAX. They would not need to move the tokens directly to the trading platform. That could reduce operational steps and let institutions keep custody with their bank.
The setup is not live yet. It still needs final agreements, testing, and regulatory approval. Luke Dorney, head of custody at LMAX Group, said the plan would give clients more flexibility in how they hold and deploy RLUSD. That sounds useful for trading firms that want collateral to work harder without sending assets to an exchange. But the details matter, and the timeline is not guaranteed.
Expansion beyond Dubai
Standard Chartered is also looking beyond the UAE. The bank plans to launch stablecoin custody for institutional clients in Singapore by the end of 2026. That target is still a plan, not a finished service. If it goes ahead, it would extend the bank’s digital asset custody work into another major financial center.
For Ripple, the custody launch is another step in pushing RLUSD into institutional finance. The token already has a presence in payments and trading, but custody and collateral are different tests. Banks and trading venues have strict rules about asset safekeeping, settlement, and risk. A custody service from Standard Chartered may help some clients clear those internal checks.
Still, the LMAX collateral part remains pending. Until testing and approvals are complete, the arrangement is a plan rather than a live product. The Dubai custody service is available now, but only for eligible institutional clients. That limits the immediate impact. The bigger question is whether this model, where collateral stays at a bank instead of moving to an exchange, becomes common. If it does, it may change how institutions handle stablecoin liquidity. For now, it is a notable step, but not a full market shift.
