Standard Chartered has added custody support for Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin, creating a banking channel for institutions that may eventually use the dollar-pegged token as collateral for trading through LMAX.
The service was announced on Oct. 12 through the bank’s Dubai International Financial Center branch, which is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority. It is available to eligible institutional clients holding RLUSD issued on the XRP Ledger, or XRPL.
The custody launch is part of a wider arrangement involving Standard Chartered, Ripple and institutional trading group LMAX. Under the proposed structure, clients would keep their RLUSD with Standard Chartered while the value of those holdings would be mirrored to LMAX. This would allow the assets to support trading positions without requiring the underlying tokens to be transferred directly to the trading venue.
The companies have not yet announced when the collateral arrangement will begin operating. Its implementation remains dependent on final documentation, technical testing, regulatory requirements and internal approvals in the relevant jurisdictions.
A banking route into institutional trading
The planned structure is intended to address one of the operational challenges faced by institutions using digital assets across custodians and trading venues. Rather than moving RLUSD between separate platforms, participating clients could retain custody with the bank while making the value of their holdings available for trading purposes through LMAX.
That model could reduce the need for asset transfers and may limit some counterparty and operational risks associated with moving tokens between a custodian and an exchange or trading platform. It would also give institutions a way to deploy dollar-denominated digital assets while retaining a custody arrangement with a traditional bank.
Standard Chartered’s involvement adds a regulated banking custody channel to Ripple’s efforts to expand RLUSD beyond payments and transfers. Waqar Chaudry, the bank’s global head of digital assets in Securities Services, said institutional investors increasingly want access to digital-asset markets without weakening their approach to asset safeguarding and risk management.
The broader partnership between Ripple and LMAX was announced in January and is described as a multiyear agreement to integrate RLUSD across LMAX’s institutional trading infrastructure. Ripple committed $150 million in financing to support LMAX’s expansion. The plans cover spot cryptocurrency trading, perpetual futures, contracts for difference and other institutional products.
RLUSD supply reaches about $2.4 billion
The custody announcement follows a sharp increase in the amount of RLUSD in circulation. According to figures cited by CryptoSlate, RWA Foundation data showed that Ripple’s stablecoin market capitalization rose by $765.3 million during the third quarter, measured over 90 days.
That was the second-largest increase among the stablecoins included in the comparison. Circle’s USDC recorded a larger gain of $915 million, while United Stables ranked third with an increase of $474.2 million.
DeFiLlama data showed RLUSD’s total circulating supply had subsequently grown to about $2.4 billion. Approximately $1.14 billion was issued on XRPL and another $1.3 billion on Ethereum. A stablecoin is a digital token designed to track the value of an underlying currency or asset; RLUSD is intended to maintain a value close to the US dollar.
The expansion gives Ripple a larger supply of dollar-denominated tokens that could potentially be used by banks, brokers and investment firms. If LMAX and its institutional users adopt RLUSD broadly as collateral, that could create an additional use for the token and support demand from market participants that need assets to back trading positions.
However, the announcement does not establish how much RLUSD Standard Chartered currently holds for clients. The bank has not disclosed the amount in custody or identified participating institutional customers. The eventual commercial effect will depend on how many institutions use the arrangement and which LMAX products accept RLUSD.
Current market picture
Moneyiar market data at 10:04 a.m. on Oct. 13, 2026, showed XRP at $1.3613723225, down 3.05% over 24 hours and 9.45% over seven days. RLUSD was priced at $0.9999409772 at 10:03 a.m., up 0.02% over 24 hours and unchanged over seven days.
The same Moneyiar data put Chainlink at $12.9614375923, down 2.93% in 24 hours and 7.22% over seven days. Comedian (BAN) stood at $0.0583503854, down 5.85% over 24 hours and 13.87% over seven days.
The custody service is therefore available, but the more significant collateral function is still pending. Institutions will not be able to use RLUSD held at Standard Chartered to support LMAX trading positions until the remaining legal, technical, regulatory and internal approval steps are completed.
