Ripple has partnered with South Africa’s Absa Bank to provide digital asset custody services, expanding its institutional custody network across Africa.
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Institutional blockchain service provider and XRP developer Ripple announced a partnership with South African bank Absa on Wednesday to provide digital asset custody to the institution’s customers.
According to the , Absa is “Ripple’s first major custody partner in Africa.” The bank will offer its customers digital asset custody services relying on Ripple’s infrastructure for tokenized assets and cryptocurrencies.
The bank is a major player on the African financial stage, 2.07 trillion South African rands ($119.5 billion) of assets as of the end of 2024. Absa also saw $6.34 billion of revenue last year.
Ripple said the partnership was “a result of the growing demand for secure, compliant digital asset infrastructure across emerging markets.” Reece Merrick, Ripple’s managing director for Middle East and Africa, said the partnership “underscores Ripple’s commitment to unlocking the potential of digital assets on the continent.”
The partnership expands Ripple’s presence in Africa. In late March, the company to support crypto-enabled cross-border payments.
Last month, Ripple its Ripple USD () stablecoin to Africa, leveraging partnerships with Chipper Cash, crypto exchange VALR, and crypto payment service Yellow Card. Ripple’s senior vice president of stablecoins, Jack McDonald, said that the company had begun RLUSD distribution in Africa through its local partners.
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Ripple bets on custody
Ripple first filed for a back in mid-March and has since started onboarding institutions as customers.
The service itself was launched about a year ago, explicitly aiming to and financial technology firms. Ripple’s move followed the company’s last summer.
Earlier this month, Ripple partnered with Bahrain Fintech Bay to alongside its RLUSD stablecoin to Bahrain’s financial institutions. In September, the company to Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria.
In early August, South Korean crypto custodian BDAas launched institutional custody support for XRP following its . Ripple’s custody efforts date back further than that, with the company having in late 2023 to launch an institutional custody platform for tokenized securities.
Related:
Traditional finance wants in on crypto, too
Traditional finance and the crypto landscape are becoming increasingly connected. The crypto products offered by BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, helped of earnings and revenue. Earlier this month, BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin () exchange-traded fund (ETF) was also reported to have over the past year.
Morgan Stanley, one of the world’s largest wealth managers, recently reportedly informed its financial advisers that all clients will be . BNY, the world’s largest custodian bank, is reportedly to enable clients to transfer funds instantly, 24/7.
Nation-states are also slowly jumping on the crypto bandwagon. Earlier this month, Luxembourg’s sovereign wealth fund ETFs. This followed Norway’s sovereign wealth fund increasing its indirect Bitcoin .
Those are not the only such cases. Czech National Bank of US crypto exchange Coinbase this summer, while a member of the in April. Lastly, in February, the Czech National Bank with an official suggesting that it should be studied rather than feared.
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