Standard Chartered Launches RLUSD Custody, Teams With Ripple and LMAX on Collateral Deal
Published October 12, 2026, 20:45 PKT. Based on Standard Chartered’s October 12 press release and reporting by The Block, CoinDesk, Cointelegraph, crypto.news and PaySpace Magazine.
Standard Chartered has launched institutional custody for Ripple USD (RLUSD) on the XRP Ledger, and is working with Ripple and LMAX Group on a plan to let clients use the stablecoin as trading collateral without moving it out of the bank’s custody, according to an October 12, 2026 press release from the bank. The custody service is now live, available through Standard Chartered Bank’s DIFC Branch, which is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). The bank says the next phase extends its collateral mirroring model to LMAX Group, so institutions can deploy RLUSD held at the bank across agreed trading products while the tokens stay in regulated custody.
The Dubai custody launch
Under the launch, eligible clients get access to Standard Chartered’s digital asset custody infrastructure for RLUSD issued on the XRP Ledger, the bank said in its release. Operating the service through the Dubai branch puts the offering under DFSA oversight, giving institutional clients what CoinDesk described as a regulated bank to hold the dollar-pegged stablecoin. The move adds RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar-pegged stablecoin, to the roster of digital assets the bank will safeguard for institutions, marking what the bank calls the next phase of its collaboration with Ripple to support institutional adoption of the token. RLUSD’s stablecoin supply data is tracked by The Block alongside other major dollar-pegged tokens, and the bank framed the custody launch as infrastructure aimed squarely at institutional settlement and collateral use cases.
The collateral mirroring plan with LMAX
The parties intend to enable RLUSD as eligible collateral for agreed LMAX Group products and solutions across trading and collateral management, according to the release. The mechanism is Standard Chartered’s collateral mirroring model: the value of eligible RLUSD collateral is mirrored to LMAX Group without requiring the underlying tokens to be transferred directly to the trading venue. The bank said the arrangement is expected to give institutional clients greater flexibility in how they hold and deploy digital assets for trading, helping reduce transfer-related operational risk and optimise counterparty exposure while improving capital efficiency. The collateral capabilities are not yet live. Standard Chartered said they remain subject to final documentation, testing, regulatory requirements and internal approvals, and the release announced no launch date, as The Block and Cointelegraph both noted.
What the executives said
Waqar Chaudry, the bank’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, and that the ecosystem must make it easier for clients to hold assets securely, access liquidity and deploy collateral efficiently within trusted frameworks. Jack McDonald, Ripple’s senior vice president for stablecoins, said RLUSD was built for exactly this kind of institutional use case, adding that combining RLUSD on the XRP Ledger with Standard Chartered’s custody capabilities and LMAX Group’s institutional trading infrastructure creates a practical path for institutions to put stablecoins to work across global markets. Luke Dorney, head of custody for digital assets at LMAX Group, called RLUSD an increasingly important component of institutional digital asset markets and said adopting the mirroring model gives clients greater flexibility in how they hold and deploy RLUSD across LMAX’s cross-asset marketplace. Joseph Goh, head of Asia-Pacific at the Singapore-based crypto investment bank Areta, told CoinDesk that regulated custody connected to a global systemically important bank is becoming one of the most valuable pieces of infrastructure in digital assets.
A $450 billion custody footprint
The announcement lands inside a fast-expanding institutional custody push. CoinDesk noted the bank holds nearly $450 billion in assets under management, and crypto.news reported that Standard Chartered had already expanded its digital asset custody operations into Luxembourg, with LMAX Group becoming its first customer there. Ripple and LMAX Group separately announced a partnership in January 2026 to expand institutional use of RLUSD, under which Ripple agreed to provide LMAX Group with $150 million in financing, according to crypto.news. Cointelegraph also linked the news to a separate Singapore custody plan the bank is pursuing, and the bank told the outlet that further details may follow. For Ripple, the arrangement advances its effort to establish RLUSD as an institutional settlement and collateral asset rather than a retail payments token, a push CoinDesk described as central to the stablecoin’s strategy.
This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.
Sources
- Standard Chartered, primary source for the October 12 announcement: institutional custody of RLUSD on the XRP Ledger now live, service offered through the DFSA-regulated DIFC Branch, the planned RLUSD collateral integration with Ripple and LMAX Group, the collateral mirroring model details, and that the collateral capabilities remain subject to final documentation, testing, regulatory requirements and internal approvals
- The Block, secondary source for the October 12 launch details, the executive quotes from Waqar Chaudry and Jack McDonald, and the subject-to-approvals status of the collateral plan
- CoinDesk, secondary source for the DIFC branch details, the nearly $450 billion in assets under management, and the Joseph Goh commentary
- Cointelegraph, secondary source for the October 12 custody launch and the mirroring model mechanics, plus the link to the bank’s separate Singapore custody plan
- crypto.news, secondary source for the January 2026 Ripple and LMAX partnership, the $150 million financing arrangement, and the bank’s Luxembourg custody expansion with LMAX as first customer
- PaySpace Magazine, secondary source corroborating the custody launch and the collateral framework, including the Luke Dorney statement
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