Ripple and SettleMint have launched an integrated platform for regulated institutions that want to issue and securely manage tokenised assets. The Ripple SettleMint partnership combines Ripple Custody with SettleMint's Digital Asset Lifecycle Platform (DALP), giving banks, market infrastructure providers, and sovereign entities a single system covering custody, issuance, compliance, settlement, and servicing. The companies began offering the solution across Asia Pacific on September 1, with plans to enter other markets as demand develops.

The announcement reflects growing institutional interest in unified blockchain infrastructure and addresses a common operational problem: connecting separate vendors across the full lifecycle of a digital asset. For regulated institutions, stitching together custody, issuance, and servicing from different providers typically multiplies integration work, audit complexity, and points of failure — which is the gap the partnership targets.

Ripple SettleMint Partnership Starts Across Asia Pacific

Asia Pacific is the partnership's first market. Ripple and SettleMint did not identify customers, countries, or implementation schedules, and they withheld pricing, volumes, and contract values. Those omissions leave commercial adoption largely unmeasured at launch, making named deployments and disclosed transaction volumes the clearest early signals to watch.

Today, we're proud to announce a landmark partnership between SettleMint and @Ripple that offers regulated financial institutions a single, connected foundation for digital asset custody, issuance and lifecycle management. Read the announcement: pic.twitter.com/1CVO1wCakf

— SettleMint (@SettleMintCom) September 1, 2026

Fiona Murray, Ripple's Asia Pacific managing director, said institutions want to expand digital asset use without joining separate systems. Under the combined arrangement, Ripple Custody would hold and govern assets while DALP would manage each asset throughout its lifecycle — a structure aimed at regulated firms that need clear operational controls.

The partnership does not require the XRP Ledger, XRP, or Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin. The announcement names no supported blockchain networks, so the agreement does not establish direct demand for XRP. Each institution's network, legal structure, and existing systems will shape deployment.

Ripple already tests custody infrastructure with financial institutions in the region. Kyobo Life, for example, has tested settlement for tokenised Korean government bonds through Ripple Custody; that pilot has no reported volume or commercial launch date.

The strategy follows broader tokenisation programs across Asia Pacific, where banks and asset managers have tested tokenised funds, programmable collateral, and stablecoin settlement. A separate arrangement involving DBS and Franklin Templeton paired a tokenised money market fund with RLUSD, and future work may explore lending and repurchase transactions backed by tokenised fund units. Regulators across the region have been developing frameworks for digital assets and stablecoins, and varying jurisdictional requirements will shape how quickly institutions can deploy an integrated platform at scale.

Unified Tokenisation Platform Covers the Asset Lifecycle

The partnership places Ripple Custody at the security and governance layer. Institutions can hold and transfer cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and tokenised real-world assets, supported by configurable access controls, policy enforcement, and approval workflows that match institutional operating requirements.

Ripple describes the platform as self-custody infrastructure installed within an institution's own technology environment, meaning the institution retains private-key control. The service supports hardware security modules and multi-party computation for key management, and Ripple lists FIPS 140-2 Level 4, ISO 27001, and SOC 2 Type II credentials.

SettleMint's DALP handles product design, issuance, compliance, permissioning, settlement, and post-issuance servicing. Institutions can apply governance rules throughout the asset lifecycle, and the platform also manages investor eligibility, ownership records, transfers, corporate actions, and redemptions.

By linking both systems, the partnership seeks to reduce reliance on separate providers, though external integrations may still be necessary. Requirements will vary by jurisdiction, blockchain network, and each institution's legacy infrastructure.

The agreement adds lifecycle management to Ripple's expanding custody network. Ripple acquired wallet and custody provider Palisade in November 2025, later adding Securosys for key protection and Figment for institutional staking. A Chainalysis integration provides transaction monitoring and compliance tools. The acquisition run positions Ripple to compete with other custody and tokenisation specialists pursuing the same institutional demand.

SettleMint uses DALP in pilots and production programs across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. Through this partnership, the platform is extended with an integrated custody layer for regulated markets.

The companies cite a May 2026 Boston Consulting Group forecast that tokenised real-world assets could reach $88 trillion by 2035 under a progressive scenario, representing 16% of global investable assets. BCG valued publicly visible tokenised assets near $30 billion when preparing the report. The forecast also warns that banks slow to adapt could face profit declines of up to 30% by 2035.