Standard Chartered’s Dubai branch has begun offering regulated custody for Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin, giving eligible institutional clients a banking channel to hold the dollar-pegged token on the XRP Ledger.
The bank is also planning a separate arrangement with Ripple and LMAX Group that could allow clients to use RLUSD held in Standard Chartered custody as collateral for trades on LMAX’s institutional platform. According to CoinDesk, that connection is not yet operational and remains subject to documentation, testing, regulatory requirements and internal approvals.
Custody and trading would remain separate
Under the planned structure, clients would not have to transfer RLUSD to LMAX in order to support their trades. Standard Chartered would retain custody of the stablecoin, while LMAX would recognize the assets as collateral for trading activity.
That separation is important for institutions that want exposure to digital-asset markets but prefer to keep assets with a regulated bank rather than deposit them directly at a trading venue. In general, custody refers to the safekeeping and administration of assets, while a trading venue provides the infrastructure for buying and selling. Linking the two functions can allow an institution to trade while maintaining a separate custody arrangement.
LMAX Group operates an institutional venue for foreign exchange and digital assets. The proposed RLUSD connection would therefore place the stablecoin within a broader institutional trading framework, although the parties have not said that the service is live.
Joseph Goh, head of Asia-Pacific at Singapore-based crypto investment bank Areta, said regulated custody tied to a global systemically important bank is becoming an important part of digital-asset infrastructure.
Waqar Chaudry, Standard Chartered’s global head of digital assets, securities services and transaction services, said institutional customers want to participate in digital-asset markets while maintaining their requirements for asset protection and risk management.
Ripple’s institutional strategy
The initiative supports Ripple’s effort to develop RLUSD beyond its role as a digital-dollar instrument for payments or spot settlement. The company is seeking to establish the stablecoin as an asset that institutions can use for settlement and as collateral supporting trading positions.
Ripple provided LMAX with $150 million in financing in January. That financing was connected to plans to integrate RLUSD into LMAX’s institutional infrastructure, including its trading operations.
If the proposed custody-to-collateral link is completed, RLUSD would gain another potential route into the systems used to support institutional trading. Rather than requiring the token to be moved to an exchange or venue, its value could be recognized while it remains in bank custody. The arrangement is still conditional, however, and the source material does not give a timetable for launch.
RLUSD is designed to be pegged to the U.S. dollar. As with other stablecoins, its purpose is to provide a digital asset intended to track the value of a fiat currency. The announced custody service is specifically for institutional clients and is offered through Standard Chartered’s Dubai branch on the XRP Ledger.
Standard Chartered expands digital-asset services
The Dubai offering is part of a wider expansion of Standard Chartered’s digital-asset custody business. The bank manages nearly $450 billion in assets, according to the source material.
Standard Chartered said last week that it planned to provide institutional clients in Singapore with custody for selected cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets. Earlier this year, it fully acquired Zodia Custody. In August, the bank became the first to distribute one of Hong Kong’s two regulated stablecoins.
The latest move gives the bank another role in the institutional digital-asset market: not only holding tokens for clients, but potentially connecting bank custody with trading collateral arrangements. The proposed LMAX structure remains dependent on operational and regulatory conditions.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar data at 09:34 on October 13, 2026, showed XRP at $1.3629275193, down 2.9% over 24 hours and 9.25% over seven days. RLUSD was priced at $0.9999199593 at 09:33, up 0.01% over 24 hours and unchanged over seven days.
The same Moneyiar snapshot put Chainlink at $12.8997051516, down 3.16% in 24 hours and 7.42% over seven days. RedStone stood at $0.1559615697, down 3.51% over 24 hours and 5.24% over seven days. These market figures are separate from the custody announcement and reflect prices at the stated times.
