Standard Chartered has begun offering custody for Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin through its Dubai International Financial Centre branch, supervised by the Dubai Financial Services Authority. Eligible institutional clients can now hold RLUSD issued on the XRP Ledger with the bank. The service sits inside a wider arrangement with Ripple and trading group LMAX that would let those clients use the stablecoin as collateral while the tokens stay put.
How the collateral piece would work
Under the proposed setup, Standard Chartered would mirror the value of eligible RLUSD holdings to LMAX. That lets clients back trading positions without shipping the actual tokens over to the venue. Both sides of that trade are betting it cuts counterparty exposure — the risk that comes with shuffling assets between a custodian and an exchange, which is exactly where past blowups have found their footing.
Ripple and LMAX announced a multiyear partnership in January to fold RLUSD into LMAX's trading infrastructure. Ripple put $150 million in financing behind it, aimed at spreading RLUSD across spot crypto trading, perpetual futures, contracts for difference and other institutional products.
RLUSD's quarter wasn't quiet
The stablecoin posted the second-largest increase in market capitalization during the third quarter, adding $765.3 million over 90 days, according to RWA Foundation. Circle's USDC took the top spot at $915 million, with United Stables third at $474.2 million.
Total circulating supply for RLUSD has reached about $2.4 billion, per DeFiLlama. Roughly $1.14 billion of that sits on XRPL, and another $1.3 billion runs on Ethereum. So the custody launch lands on a token that's already splitting its weight across two chains, which is worth keeping in mind for anyone assuming XRPL issuance is the whole picture.
The bank's read on institutional demand
Waqar Chaudry, Standard Chartered's global head of digital assets in Securities Services, said institutional investors increasingly want exposure to digital asset markets without giving up asset safeguarding and risk management. That's the pitch. Standard Chartered hasn't said how much RLUSD it's holding in custody, and it hasn't named any participating clients.
Loose ends before anything goes live
The companies haven't said when the collateral integration will actually be operational. Implementation is still subject to final documentation, technical testing, regulatory requirements and internal approvals across the relevant jurisdictions. Those are real gates, not boilerplate — cross-border collateral mirroring touches custody rules in the UAE and elsewhere, and no one has put a date on clearing them.
For now, the custody leg is live in Dubai. The collateral leg is a promise. Until the paperwork and testing wrap up, the $150 million financing and the January partnership remain groundwork rather than a working system.
