Standard Chartered Launches RLUSD Stablecoin Custody, Eyes LMAX Collateral Integration
Key Takeaways
- •Standard Chartered has launched live institutional custody support for Ripple's US dollar-backed stablecoin RLUSD through its Dubai International Financial Centre branch on the XRP Ledger.
- •The bank is planning a collateral integration with LMAX Group that would let institutional clients post RLUSD as trading collateral without moving the tokens out of the bank's custody.
- •Under the proposed collateral-mirroring arrangement, LMAX would recognize the value of eligible RLUSD holdings held with Standard Chartered, so institutions would not need to transfer assets between custodians and trading venues.
- •The bank said the collateral model could reduce transfer-related risks and help institutions manage counterparty exposure, but the capability remains subject to documentation, testing, regulatory requirements and internal approvals.
- •The DIFC rollout forms part of a broader multi-jurisdiction custody expansion by Standard Chartered, which has also announced plans for institutional crypto custody services in Singapore.
Standard Chartered has launched institutional custody services for Ripple USD (RLUSD), Ripple's US dollar-backed stablecoin, and is preparing to let institutional clients use the token as trading collateral under a planned integration with institutional trading firm LMAX Group.
The United Kingdom-based multinational bank said on Monday that it rolled out RLUSD support on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) through its branch in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the financial free zone in Dubai that operates under its own legal and regulatory framework, giving eligible institutional clients access to its digital asset custody infrastructure, according to an official press release. Custody, the safeguarding of client assets by a third party, is a foundational service for institutions seeking to use digital assets within trading and settlement workflows.
Standard Chartered plans to extend its collateral-mirroring model to LMAX Group, an institutional trading company. Under the proposed arrangement, clients would be able to post RLUSD as trading collateral while the tokens remain in the bank's custody. LMAX would recognize the value of eligible RLUSD holdings without requiring clients to transfer the tokens onto its trading platform, meaning institutions would not need to move assets between custodians and trading venues in order to pledge them as collateral.
According to the bank, this approach could reduce transfer-related risks and help institutions manage their exposure to trading counterparties.
The planned collateral integration builds on a partnership announced by Ripple, the blockchain payments company behind RLUSD, and LMAX Group in January 2026 to expand institutional use of the stablecoin, as outlined in a joint announcement from the two companies.
Standard Chartered cautioned that the additional collateral capabilities remain subject to final documentation, testing, regulatory requirements and internal approvals. Until those steps are complete, the collateral functionality remains a proposal, distinguishing it from the custody service, which is already live.
Cointelegraph contacted Standard Chartered for further details and will update this article upon receiving a response.
Standard Chartered has also previously announced plans to roll out institutional crypto custody services in Singapore, placing the DIFC launch within a broader, multi-jurisdiction custody expansion by the bank.
This article was originally published by Cointelegraph.
