Standard Chartered to provide RLUSD custody in Dubai and explore LMAX collateral integration
— The Dubai branch of Standard Chartered now provides regulated institutional custody of Ripple’s dollar‑pegged RLUSD stablecoin on the XRP Ledger.
— Standard Chartered and LMAX Group intend to allow clients to use RLUSD held at the bank as trading collateral without moving the tokens to the trading venue, pending testing, regulatory compliance and approvals.
— This arrangement supports Ripple’s push to make RLUSD a key institutional settlement and collateral asset, while also broadening Standard Chartered’s digital‑asset custody offerings.
Standard Chartered, a global banking giant, now provides institutional custody of Ripple’s USD‑pegged RLUSD stablecoin on the XRP Ledger via its Dubai branch, offering eligible clients a regulated bank to hold the dollar‑linked token.
With nearly $450 billion in assets under management, the bank also intends to collaborate with Ripple and LMAX Group—an institutional trading venue for FX and digital assets—so that clients can use RLUSD held at Standard Chartered as collateral for trading on LMAX’s platform.
That portion of the deal is not yet active and still requires documentation, testing, regulatory compliance and internal approvals, the bank said Monday in an email.
LMAX intends to let clients use RLUSD held at Standard Chartered as backing for trades, eliminating the need to move the stablecoin to the trading venue.
This setup could attract banks, funds and other institutions that wish to trade stablecoins without leaving the assets on a trading platform. It decouples custody from execution: the bank retains the tokens while the venue recognizes their value as collateral.
“Regulated custody linked to a globally systemically important bank is emerging as one of the most valuable infrastructure components in digital assets,” said Joseph Goh, head of Asia‑Pacific at Singapore‑based crypto investment bank Areta.
Waqar Chaudry, Standard Chartered’s global head of digital assets, securities services and transaction services, said “institutional clients want to participate in digital asset markets without compromising on how their assets are safeguarded or how risk is managed.”
The development furthers Ripple’s goal of positioning RLUSD as a settlement and collateral asset for institutions. In January, Ripple extended $150 million in financing to LMAX as part of a plan to integrate the stablecoin into the group’s infrastructure, including its institutional trading services.
If realized, the LMAX connection would provide RLUSD with an additional pathway into the collateral systems underlying institutional trading, rather than restricting the token to payments or spot settlement.
Standard Chartered has been broadening its custody services across multiple financial hubs. Last week, it announced plans to provide institutional clients in Singapore with custody for selected cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and tokenized real‑world assets, following its full acquisition of Zodia Custody earlier this year.
The bank also became the first to distribute one of Hong Kong’s two regulated stablecoins in August.
Diversified RWA‑backed stablecoins continue to deliver 5‑7% yields from real credit as crypto funding rates drop to about 4%. GENIUS is moving yield generation off‑chain, and the total addressable market has expanded to $4 billion over three years.
Why this matters:
Diversified RWA stablecoins maintain yields of 5‑7% backed by real credit while crypto funding rates have fallen to roughly 4%. GENIUS is taking yield generation off‑chain, and the total addressable market has risen to $4 billion in three years.
