Standard Chartered offers RLUSD custody in Dubai and plans LMAX collateral link

“Regulated custody connected to a global systemically important bank is becoming one of the most valuable pieces of infrastructure in digital assets,” said Joseph Goh, head of Asia-Pacific at Singapore-based crypto investment bank Areta.

Waqar Chaudry, Standard Chartered’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.”

The move builds on Ripple’s effort to position RLUSD as a settlement and collateral asset for institutions. Ripple provided LMAX with $150 million in financing in January as part of plans to embed the stablecoin in the group’s infrastructure, including for institutional trading.

The LMAX link, if completed, would give RLUSD another route into the collateral systems that sit behind institutional trading, rather than limiting the token to payments or spot settlement.

Standard Chartered has been expanding its custody operations in several financial centers. Last week, it said it planned to offer institutional clients in Singapore custody for selected cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets, having fully acquired Zodia Custody earlier this year It became the first bank to distribute one of Hong Kong’s two regulated stablecoins in August.