Ripple Selects BNY Mellon as Custodian for RLUSD Stablecoin

Ripple, a prominent digital payments firm, has chosen The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) as the primary custodian for the reserves backing its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin. BNY Mellon, with $50 trillion in assets under custody, is the oldest bank in the United States. This partnership aims to enhance RLUSD’s transparency, compliance, and functionality, as Ripple seeks to deepen regulatory ties and institutional trust in its stablecoin product, which was launched in December 2024.

Emily Portney, BNY Mellon’s global head of asset servicing, highlighted the collaboration as a natural progression of the bank’s involvement in the crypto economy. She stated, “As primary custodian, we are thrilled to support the growth and adoption of RLUSD by facilitating the seamless movement of reserve assets and cash to support conversions. We are proud to be working closely with Ripple to continue propelling the future of the financial system.”

BNY Mellon first ventured into digital assets more seriously in 2021 when it launched its first crypto-focused unit. Since then, the institution has been involved in custodial services for Bitcoin and other digital tokens. Ripple, on the other hand, is pursuing ways to integrate crypto banking into the US financial system. On July 2, the firm filed an application with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national banking license. This move preceded a separate request for a Federal Reserve master account, which would allow Ripple to directly access the central bank’s payment infrastructure and hold reserves without intermediaries.

Currently, RLUSD is regulated at the state level by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). A successful application for a national trust bank charter would change its oversight of RLUSD to the OCC, making Ripple one of the few crypto companies with federal banking privileges. Jack McDonald, Ripple’s senior vice president of stablecoins, explained, “The dual nature of that regulation would basically have set a new bar for transparency and compliance in the stablecoin market.”

The announcement comes as part of several developments of institutional interest in stablecoins. Companies like Amazon, Walmart, Uber, Airbnb, and Apple are reportedly looking at issuing their own stablecoins to enable stablecoin-based payments. On June 17, the US Congress advanced legislation that would formally integrate stablecoins into the broader financial system. The Genius Act would require stablecoin issuers to obtain a national bank license. It also requires banks and stablecoin issuers to maintain full 1:1 backing with fiat currencies and US Treasury securities.

To date, Anchorage Digital is the only federally chartered crypto bank. Circle, issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has also submitted an application. Ripple, which operates outside the US and supports institutional clients with cross-border payments using blockchain technology, has seen its own stablecoin, RLUSD, grow to a market capitalization of approximately $469 million. The company’s expanded banking ambitions have supposedly increased the interest in its token XRP.