BNY Adds XRP and RLUSD Custody in Ripple Tokenization Push

BNY has added XRP and Ripple’s dollar-backed RLUSD stablecoin to its digital asset custody platform, and the two firms are now exploring tokenized trade finance on the XRP Ledger, Zycrypto reported on Tuesday. The bank already held RLUSD’s reserves and maintains a custody relationship with Ripple Prime.

The expanded arrangement, described in a Tuesday press release, goes beyond storage. Under the plan, BNY intends to let its clients mint and redeem RLUSD directly through the bank, while the partners examine institutional uses for the XRPL including tokenized assets, investment products and blockchain-based payment, settlement and collateral workflows.

Key facts

• BNY, described by Zycrypto as America’s oldest bank, has added XRP and RLUSD to its Digital Asset Custody platform, according to Cryptobriefing.
• BNY intends to work with Ripple so that bank clients can mint and redeem RLUSD directly through BNY.
• The first potential trade finance initiative involves C2FO, a working-capital platform, and focuses on approved receivables.
• RLUSD, which debuted in December 2024, has reached roughly $2.5 billion in market capitalization, including more than $1 billion issued on the XRPL.
• Ripple says the XRP Ledger has now handled over 4.6 billion transactions, with transfers settling in three to five seconds.

What the trade finance work would change

The proposed use case centres on supply chain receivables. Corporate invoices would be represented on the public ledger, and participating capital providers would finance the payments. Ripple says suppliers could access funds within seconds against approved invoices instead of waiting several days for traditional bank transfers to clear. Existing invoice terms and repayment deadlines would stay the same.

The two outlets frame the trade finance element slightly differently. Zycrypto describes it as an exploration of tokenized trade finance aimed at bringing corporate working capital onto public blockchain infrastructure, while Cryptobriefing characterises the C2FO work as a first potential initiative focused on widening investor access to approved receivables. Both trace it to the same Tuesday statement.

Ripple’s message to institutions

Ripple President Monica Long said the emphasis is shifting from simply issuing tokenized assets to putting them to work. Institutions, she said, are increasingly focused on using tokenized assets for payments and collateral across financial markets rather than holding them passively.

The announcement lands ahead of Ripple’s annual Swell event, part of a run of news from the company. Zycrypto noted that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has granted final approval for Ripple’s proposed national trust bank, a milestone CEO Brad Garlinghouse had previously flagged.

Why it matters

Custody is the gate institutions pass through before they can touch an asset at scale. Having XRP and RLUSD inside BNY’s platform, with direct minting and redemption for clients, lowers the operational friction that has kept many regulated firms on the sidelines of the XRP Ledger. Trade finance is a different kind of test: it would put a public chain into the settlement of corporate receivables, where clearing delays are costly for suppliers and where the case for tokenization is measured in time saved rather than in trading volume.

What to watch

The trade finance effort with C2FO remains exploratory, so the next concrete signals will be whether a pilot moves past the concept stage and how quickly BNY opens direct RLUSD minting and redemption to its institutional clients.

Disclaimer: This article is for information only and is not investment, financial or trading advice. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile. Always do your own research.

Sources: ZyCrypto, Cryptobriefing