Ripple Wins Final Federal Approval to Manage RLUSD Reserves and Safeguard Digital Assets
Key Facts
Ripple announced on October 26, 2026, that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency had granted final approval for the establishment of Ripple National Trust Bank, a step that allows the proposed bank to manage the segregated reserves backing the RLUSD stablecoin and act as a fiduciary custodian of collateral for its holders. The official announcement corrects a circulating account that Bank of New York Mellon was expanding its custody services to include XRP: the bank’s announcement, published on July 9, 2025, concerned its selection as primary custodian of RLUSD reserves and did not mention XRP custody. Ripple said the national trust bank’s approved activities include managing currency reserves and providing fiduciary custody services for digital assets. The new development therefore concerns Ripple’s regulatory and fiduciary infrastructure, while BNY’s announced role remains tied to RLUSD reserves and the transaction banking services needed to operate it. XRP’s price movement alone does not establish a direct link to the approval or the earlier custody announcement.
BNY’s announced partnership dates to July 2025, when Ripple said it had selected the bank as primary custodian of RLUSD reserves, and BNY said it would also provide transaction banking services to support the stablecoin’s operation. The bank described RLUSD at the time as a stablecoin issued under a trust company charter from the New York State Department of Financial Services and designed for institutional use. According to the announcement, those uses include improving the speed, cost and efficiency of cross-border payments. This role places the currency’s reserves at the center of the custody relationship between the two companies, without establishing that BNY safeguards the XRP token. Ripple’s final bank approval also adds a federally supervised banking channel to the activities the company has announced, but does not itself change the terms of the previously announced custody agreement.
The final approval follows a conditional stage announced by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on December 12, 2025. On that date, the office said it had conditionally approved five applications to establish national trust banks, and that the new institutions would join about 60 national trust banks it supervised. The conditional decision included Ripple’s application and authorized the proposed bank to provide fiduciary custodial services and fiduciary custody of cryptocurrencies. The office described that approval as preliminary and conditional, while Ripple’s announcement in October 2026 confirmed that the bank had received final approval. The sequence highlights the difference between the earlier conditional approval and completion of the approval process, and shows that collateral and custody powers were included in the national trust bank chartering process.
Ripple says RLUSD launched in December 2024 and had a market capitalization of $2.5 billion in its latest announcement. According to the company, it uses the stablecoin in its payments infrastructure and as collateral on the Ripple Prime platform. It said RLUSD will continue to be issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company, which is regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services; the bank’s federal approval therefore does not mean that issuance of the stablecoin is transferring to it. Ripple added that the stablecoin is fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits, U.S. government securities and cash equivalents. The company said it publishes monthly independent third-party disclosures on supply and reserves, while the proposed bank’s approved powers include managing segregated reserves and acting as a fiduciary custodian of collateral for holders of the stablecoin.
The move comes as BNY develops institutional digital asset and cash services. On January 9, 2026, the bank announced the launch of tokenized deposit services for its institutional clients, representing deposit balances held with the bank on a private, permissioned blockchain. The bank said balances would remain recorded in its traditional systems and that the first phase would focus on collateral and margin use cases. BNY’s Caroline Weinberg described the service as enabling clients to put deposits to work on digital rails and move faster in collateral, margin and payments. BNY also announced on October 8, 2026, that it was expanding its digital asset custody platform to selected institutions in the European Union under the “MiCA” framework, following the listing of its European banking entity in the European Securities and Markets Authority’s register in July 2026.
BNY said its digital asset custody platform, launched in 2022, uses multi-party computation technology, segregated client wallets and private key storage. The assets supported by the platform include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and USD Coin, while the bank is looking to support other assets and stablecoins. In its European announcement, BNY linked its expansion to growing digital asset adoption among banks, brokers, asset managers and corporate treasurers. It said use cases include digital payments, tokenized securities, improved liquidity and settlement, and collateral movement. This provides context for the expansion of institutional services around digital assets, but does not establish that XRP is included among the assets on BNY’s platform or that the scope of its agreement with Ripple has changed.
In the market, XRP closed at $1.3092 on October 26 and then at $1.3001 on October 27, 2026, according to EL7 data. These closes place the token’s price movement on the day Ripple announced final approval, but do not establish that the announcement caused a price change. BNY’s reserve custody announcement does not indicate that XRP was added to the scope of its services, and the final approval announcement does not report a decision on that matter. The confirmed development therefore remains related to Ripple National Trust Bank and its activities involving RLUSD reserves, collateral and fiduciary custody of digital assets. The distinction remains between Ripple’s bank charter, RLUSD issuance and BNY’s role in custody of the stablecoin’s reserves.