Ripple has signed a strategic partnership with Meritz Securities, one of South Korea's leading securities firms and a key subsidiary of Meritz Financial Group. The agreement marks Ripple's first partnership with a South Korean securities company, extending the blockchain payments firm's reach into the country's institutional digital asset market.

Under the deal, the two will explore bringing Ripple Custody and Ripple's tokenization tools into South Korea's capital markets. According to Ripple's official announcement, the collaboration covers institutional custody, tokenization, and a potential on-chain migration of Meritz's securities operations.

What the Partnership Covers

Ripple Custody supports the secure storage, transfer, and settlement of digital assets, and the company says institutional interest in the service is growing.

Tokenization, the practice of representing traditional financial assets such as securities as digital tokens on a blockchain, is an area that financial institutions worldwide have been experimenting with as they test whether blockchain rails can shorten settlement cycles and reduce back-office costs. As a first step, the partnership will focus on moving Meritz's existing securities business on-chain, an effort both companies say will comply with South Korea's current regulatory rules.

The two firms plan to broaden their collaboration in stages, with the pace and scope of each phase dependent on how South Korea's digital asset framework develops over time.

Meritz is also weighing other avenues for bringing digital assets into the country's regulated financial system. The list under consideration includes spot ETFs, fractional investment, security tokens, trading platforms, and stablecoins pegged to the Korean won — digital tokens designed to track the value of the national currency.

“Korea is one of the most dynamic digital asset markets in the world and its institutions are preparing to move from exploration to real-world utility,” said Fiona Murray, Managing Director, Asia Pacific at Ripple.

Byungha Kang, managing director at Meritz Securities, said the deal pairs Ripple's global infrastructure with the securities firm's capital markets expertise. “As Korea's regulatory framework evolves, we will prepare safe and trusted digital asset financial services in stages,” he said.

Ripple's Growing List of Korean Partners

Meritz is Ripple's fourth Korean institutional partner in 2026. Earlier this year, the company signed deals with Kyobo Life Insurance, Kbank, and Jeonbuk Bank. “Our first securities partner in Korea, and our fourth Korean institution this year,” Ripple stated.

Jeonbuk Bank previously became the first Korean regional bank to use Ripple Payments for cross-border money transfers. The partnerships cover distinct product lines as well, from payments infrastructure at Jeonbuk Bank to custody and tokenization at Meritz. With the Meritz agreement in place, Ripple now works with Korean firms across banking, insurance, and capital markets, three core pillars of the country's financial system.

In a separate move, Ripple has also partnered with Privy, a wallet company owned by payments company Stripe. That collaboration aims to bring embedded wallets and AI agent payments to the XRP Ledger, the public blockchain best known for its association with Ripple and its XRP token.

XRP Market Reaction

XRP's price edged slightly higher after the announcement. The token traded near its 24-hour high of $1.38, up 4% from its 24-hour low, while spot trading volume fell 19% over the past 24 hours. Traders appeared to be waiting for the latest US consumer price index inflation report, a data point markets routinely watch for its influence on expectations for US interest rate policy.

The derivatives market showed more activity. CoinGlass data showed total XRP futures open interest — the value of outstanding futures contracts, often read as a gauge of leveraged positioning — rose 0.31% to $3.01 billion over the past four hours. Futures open interest on CME and Binance rose by more than 0.22% and 0.75%, respectively.

Source: Blockonomi