Standard Chartered is expanding its digital-asset services in Dubai by offering institutional custody for Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin, while planning a system that would allow clients to use the tokens as trading collateral without transferring them to an exchange.
Custody in Dubai
The service is being provided through Standard Chartered’s Dubai International Financial Centre branch, which is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority. It covers RLUSD issued on the XRP Ledger, the blockchain closely associated with Ripple.
Under the arrangement, the bank holds the tokens for eligible institutional clients and provides the custody infrastructure around them. Custody places assets with a regulated institution that is responsible for safeguarding them and administering the client relationship while they are held.
According to Decrypt, Standard Chartered has offered cryptocurrency custody in Dubai since 2024. In July, the bank said it had become the first global systemically important bank to allow institutions to mint and redeem Circle’s USDC directly.
RLUSD is a dollar-pegged stablecoin, a type of crypto asset designed to maintain a value of $1. Ripple launched it in December 2024 on both Ethereum and the XRP Ledger. The Dubai custody service announced by Standard Chartered applies to the XRP Ledger version. RLUSD received approval from Dubai’s regulator in June 2025.
Planned collateral system
Standard Chartered is also working with LMAX Group, a London-based marketplace for foreign exchange and crypto trading. The planned integration would make RLUSD eligible collateral for agreed LMAX products.
Collateral, often called margin in trading, is a deposit used to support positions and cover potential losses. Standard Chartered’s proposed system, called collateral mirroring, would allow the RLUSD to remain in the bank’s custody. LMAX would instead receive a mirrored record of the tokens’ value and credit that amount toward the client’s trades.
This means the assets would not need to move to the trading venue. The LMAX arrangement is not yet operational. Standard Chartered said it still requires final documentation, testing and regulatory approvals, and it did not provide a launch date.
The structure is intended to address institutional concerns about safeguarding digital assets while accessing trading markets. Standard Chartered is one of 29 banks identified by the Financial Stability Board as globally systemically important and subject to tougher capital requirements.
RLUSD and the market picture
RLUSD has reached roughly $2.45 billion in market capitalization, according to the source material. That remains less than 1% of the approximately $306 billion stablecoin market, placing Ripple’s token among a much larger sector dominated by other dollar-linked digital assets.
Moneyiar market data at 09:53–09:54 on October 13, 2026, showed RLUSD at $0.9999512038, down 0.01% over 24 hours and unchanged over seven days. XRP was priced at $1.3618271094, down 2.9% in 24 hours and 9.36% over seven days. Chainlink stood at $12.9285272665, down 2.91% and 7.37% over the same periods, while STABLE was $0.0261920243, down 2.17% in 24 hours and 7.1% over seven days.
