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Standard Chartered has gone live with institutional custody for Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin on the XRP Ledger, with the service offered through the bank’s Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) branch, according to Crypto.news. The announcement was made on Oct. 12, 2026, and the DIFC entity is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).
Coinpedia and Cointelegraph also reported the launch. Coinpedia, citing Standard Chartered’s press release, said the service gives eligible institutional clients the ability to hold and manage RLUSD through the bank’s digital asset custody infrastructure, and noted the bank’s separate plan to offer stablecoin custody in Singapore by the end of 2026. Cointelegraph added that Cointelegraph had contacted Standard Chartered for further details.
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Key facts
- Institutional RLUSD custody on the XRP Ledger went live on Oct. 12, 2026, through Standard Chartered’s DFSA-regulated DIFC branch.
- A planned collateral-mirroring arrangement with LMAX Group remains subject to final legal documentation, testing, internal approvals and applicable regulations, with no launch date disclosed.
- Ripple agreed to provide LMAX Group $150 million in financing under a multi-year partnership announced on Jan. 15, 2026.
- Standard Chartered was appointed LMAX’s digital asset custodian on Sept. 16, 2026, through its DIFC branch and Luxembourg operations; LMAX became the first customer on the Luxembourg platform after the bank’s MiCA authorization in June 2026.
- RLUSD passed $2 billion in market value in August 2026, with nearly $1 billion issued on the XRP Ledger at that time.
What the launch covers, and what it does not
The bank has not said how many clients are using the custody service or how much RLUSD is held through it. It also did not publish a minimum holding requirement, new trading fees or specific client eligibility thresholds. Waqar Chaudry, Standard Chartered’s global head of digital assets for securities and transaction services, said institutional investors want to take part in digital asset markets without compromising how their assets are safeguarded or how risk is managed.
The second part of the plan is the collateral piece. Under the proposed structure, Standard Chartered would extend its collateral-mirroring model to LMAX, allowing the trading company to recognise the value of eligible RLUSD sitting in the bank’s custody without a token transfer to the venue. Standard Chartered said this could cut transfer-related operational risk and let institutions manage trading counterparty exposure separately from custody. LMAX’s head of digital asset custody, Luke Dorney, said the arrangement would give clients more flexibility in how they hold and deploy RLUSD; Ripple’s senior vice president of stablecoins, Jack McDonald, described RLUSD as built for institutional use cases and said clients want regulated-stablecoin efficiency without giving up their existing custody standards. The specific products that would accept RLUSD as collateral have not been identified.
Also readClearpool, Ripple, and Cicada Bring Institutional Lending to the XRP Ledger
Why it matters
Standard Chartered has been building out digital asset custody since entering the UAE market in September 2024 with Bitcoin and Ethereum support under its DFSA-regulated DIFC operations, when it named Brevan Howard Digital as its first customer. It introduced collateral mirroring with OKX in April 2025, with Franklin Templeton taking part. Extending the same structure to a stablecoin on the XRP Ledger, and to a trading venue it already serves as custodian, ties the bank’s custody business to Ripple’s institutional stablecoin push.
The January 2026 Ripple-LMAX partnership was intended to fold RLUSD into institutional trading infrastructure spanning spot crypto, perpetual futures, contracts for difference and foreign exchange, and to connect Ripple Prime brokerage with LMAX venues. The companies have not disclosed how much of the $150 million financing has been drawn, or whether the new collateral plan changes the original financing terms.
What to watch
The trigger for the LMAX collateral functions is completion of legal documentation, testing and approvals. Standard Chartered’s Oct. 12 statement did not name a launch date, and further operational details are expected only after those steps are done. A separate Singapore institutional stablecoin custody service, reported by Coinpedia for the end of 2026, is also on the horizon.
Nothing here is financial advice, and crypto markets are volatile and uncertain.
Sources: crypto.news, Coinpedia, Cointelegraph
