Standard Chartered Takes RLUSD Into Bank Custody, With LMAX Collateral Yet to Come

Standard Chartered now holds Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin for eligible institutional clients through its Dubai branch, using the XRP Ledger. A planned link with LMAX would let those tokens back trades without leaving the bank, but it still needs approvals.

Custody is live in Dubai, but the collateral link is not

Standard Chartered has started offering institutional custody of Ripple's dollar-pegged stablecoin RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, according to CoinDesk and Cointelegraph. The service runs through the bank's branch in the Dubai International Financial Centre and is open to eligible institutional clients. Cointelegraph reported that the bank announced the rollout on Monday.

The second part of the plan has not gone live. Standard Chartered intends to work with Ripple and LMAX Group, a trading venue that serves institutions in foreign exchange and digital assets, so that clients can use RLUSD kept at the bank as collateral on LMAX's platform. The bank said by email on Monday that this step still depends on documentation, testing, regulatory clearance and internal sign-off, CoinDesk reported.

How collateral mirroring separates safekeeping from trading

Trading venues usually ask clients to move assets onto the platform before those assets can back a position, which means the venue ends up holding them. The arrangement Standard Chartered describes is built to avoid that step. According to Cointelegraph, LMAX would recognize the value of eligible RLUSD holdings while the tokens stay with the bank, so clients would not have to send them to the trading platform.

Standard Chartered said the structure could reduce risks tied to moving tokens and ease institutions' exposure to the firms they trade against, Cointelegraph reported. CoinDesk made a related point, saying the arrangement could suit banks, funds and comparable institutions that wish to trade using stablecoins while keeping custody away from the trading venue. Put simply, the bank safeguards the tokens while the venue counts their worth as backing for trades.

RLUSD runs on the XRP Ledger, but the custody covers the stablecoin rather than XRP itself, and none of the three outlets ties the announcement to the price of XRP. CoinDesk adds that the LMAX link, if completed, would give RLUSD a route into the collateral systems behind institutional trading instead of confining it to payments or spot settlement.

The numbers and dates behind the announcement

A handful of figures reported by the outlets put the Dubai launch in context.

• Nearly $450 billion: the assets under management CoinDesk attributes to Standard Chartered.
• $150 million: the financing Ripple gave LMAX in January to embed RLUSD in its institutional infrastructure, according to CoinDesk.
• January 2026: when Ripple and LMAX announced a partnership to widen institutional use of RLUSD, according to Cointelegraph.
• Last week: Standard Chartered said it planned custody in Singapore for institutional clients, covering chosen cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets, per CoinDesk.
• August: when, CoinDesk reported, the bank became the first bank to distribute a Hong Kong-regulated stablecoin, one of two such tokens.
• Earlier this year: the bank fully acquired Zodia Custody, according to CoinDesk.

Where the three outlets agree and where they differ

All three outlets report a custody launch alongside work toward LMAX collateral use. They diverge on detail. Cointelegraph names the branch in the Dubai International Financial Centre and explains how the mirroring model works, while CoinDesk supplies the bank's size, outside commentary and the history of Ripple's financing for LMAX.

The Block's headline and summary describe the bank as working with Ripple and LMAX Group so that RLUSD can serve as collateral for “certain LMAX products” under its mirroring model. It is the only account that mentions a product limit. CoinDesk and Cointelegraph speak of trading collateral on LMAX without naming a restriction, and The Block's summary does not say which products would qualify.

The January relationship is also described with different levels of detail. CoinDesk gives a figure, $150 million in financing from Ripple. Cointelegraph cites only a partnership announced in January 2026 and no amount, and it said it had asked Standard Chartered for further details and would update its report once the bank replied.

Why a bank-held stablecoin matters to institutional users

For institutions, the identity of the custodian often matters as much as the asset itself. Joseph Goh, who leads Asia-Pacific for Singapore-based crypto investment bank Areta, said in comments carried by CoinDesk that regulated custody connected to a systemically important global bank is becoming “one of the most valuable pieces of infrastructure in digital assets.”

Waqar Chaudry, who runs digital assets, securities services and transaction services globally at the bank, said clients want market access without weakening how holdings are protected or how risk is handled.

For Ripple, CoinDesk frames the step as part of an effort to make RLUSD an asset that institutions use for settlement and as collateral.

Open questions while the LMAX link goes through approvals

No outlet gives a date for when RLUSD held at Standard Chartered could be used on LMAX. The bank's own caveats point to several gates: paperwork, testing, regulatory requirements and internal approvals. A confirmation from the bank, LMAX or Ripple that the function is live would be the clearest signal.

Scope is the second unknown. The Block's reference to certain LMAX products raises the question of which instruments would accept RLUSD, and none of the outlets defines which clients count as eligible for the Dubai custody service. Nor does any report say whether RLUSD will be among the stablecoins covered by the Singapore custody plan.

Market snapshot

Asset	Price	24h	7d	Market cap
XRP (XRP)	$1.38	-1.6%	-9.4%	$86.95 billion

CoinGecko data as of 2026-10-12 (UTC).

FAQ

What has Standard Chartered launched for RLUSD?

The bank now offers institutional custody of RLUSD on the XRP Ledger through its Dubai branch for eligible clients, according to CoinDesk and Cointelegraph. Cointelegraph identifies the branch as the one in the Dubai International Financial Centre.

Can clients use RLUSD held at Standard Chartered as LMAX collateral today?

No. The bank told CoinDesk by email that this part is not yet live and still depends on paperwork, testing, regulatory requirements and internal approvals.

What does collateral mirroring mean in this arrangement?

According to Cointelegraph, LMAX would take the value of eligible RLUSD into account without clients having to move the tokens to its platform, so they stay in Standard Chartered's custody. The bank said this could reduce risks linked to transfers.

Sources

• CoinDesk: Standard Chartered offers RLUSD custody in Dubai and plans LMAX collateral link (2026-10-12)
• The Block: Standard Chartered launches custody for Ripple’s RLUSD on XRP Ledger (2026-10-12)
• Cointelegraph: Standard Chartered adds Ripple USD custody, eyes LMAX collateral deal (2026-10-12)
• CoinGecko (market data)