Ripple has entered into a partnership with Meritz Securities to explore institutional digital asset custody and tokenization services in South Korea's capital markets. Announced on October 14, 2026, the agreement is Ripple's first collaboration with a Korean securities firm and its fourth institutional partnership in the country this year, extending its work across banking, insurance and securities.

Under the arrangement, the two companies will explore integrating Ripple Custody and Ripple's tokenization infrastructure into Meritz's existing securities business. The cooperation will begin within current regulations and expand in stages as South Korea's digital asset framework develops.

Ripple Custody provides regulated financial institutions with the infrastructure to store, transfer and settle digital assets. Through the partnership, Meritz can explore custody services without having to build the entire infrastructure independently. Tokenization, in this context, means representing traditional financial instruments such as bonds or fund shares as digital tokens that can be held and transferred through that same institutional infrastructure.

The deal comes as South Korea prepares to integrate digital assets into its regulated financial system, a shift that has prompted local financial institutions to prepare compliant service offerings. Meritz is assessing several related opportunities, including spot exchange-traded funds, security tokens, fractional investments, trading platforms and Korean won-denominated stablecoins.

Ripple and Meritz Outline Their Plans

Fiona Murray, Ripple's managing director for Asia Pacific, said Korean institutions were moving toward practical digital asset applications. She added that Ripple provides payments, custody and tokenization infrastructure, supported by more than 85 licenses across over 60 markets.

Byungha Kang, managing director of Meritz Securities' Strategic Planning Unit, said the partnership would combine Ripple's global infrastructure with the firm's capital markets capabilities. He said Meritz would prepare digital asset financial services in stages as regulations evolve.

Fourth Korean Partnership Follows Banking and Insurance Deals

The Meritz agreement follows three other institutional partnerships Ripple announced in South Korea this year:

• Kyobo Life Insurance is using Ripple Custody to develop the country's first blockchain-based tokenized government bond settlement.
• Kbank, South Korea's first internet-only bank, is deploying digital asset wallet infrastructure through Ripple Custody.
• Jeonbuk Bank became the first regional bank in the country to adopt Ripple Payments for cross-border remittances.

The Meritz deal extends Ripple's Korean institutional relationships into capital markets, adding a securities firm to its existing work with banking and insurance institutions. Mapped together, the four partnerships align with the infrastructure lines Murray cited: payments at Jeonbuk Bank, custody and wallet infrastructure at Kbank and Kyobo Life Insurance, and tokenization in the government bond settlement project, spanning banking, insurance and securities.

Because the rollout is explicitly staged against regulatory progress, the development of South Korea's digital asset framework — and which of Meritz's assessed offerings, from security tokens to a Korean won-denominated stablecoin, moves from assessment toward implementation — is what to watch as the partnership advances.

The official announcement is available on Ripple's website: Ripple and Meritz Securities Partner to Bring Institutional Custody and Tokenization to Korea's Capital Markets