Ripple Expands BNY Partnership as RLUSD Market Cap Tops $2.5 Billion
Key Facts
Ripple said on October 27, 2026, that it was expanding its collaboration with BNY to cover digital asset custody and institutional uses of blockchain technology, including the exploration of tokenized trade finance on the XRP Ledger. The company said BNY now supports custody of XRP, the network’s native digital asset, and RLUSD on its Digital Asset Custody platform. The current support is limited to eligible institutional clients, according to Ripple’s statement. The announcement distinguishes the custody service, which is now available, from trade finance initiatives that remain in development or under exploration. Ripple also announced a separate initiative with C2FO to move the financing and settlement activity underpinning C2FO Instant Pay to the XRP Ledger, using RLUSD for settlement.
The service expansion at BNY builds on an existing relationship between the two parties: the bank has been the primary custodian for RLUSD reserves and also has a custody relationship with Ripple Prime. Ripple said it and BNY intend to develop tokenized trade finance on the XRP Ledger in line with client requirements. The two parties are also exploring a supply chain finance initiative with C2FO, aimed at expanding investor access to this asset class. Ripple President Monica Long said the focus is shifting from issuing assets on the network to making them usable for payments and collateral across financial markets. She added: "We are moving beyond the initial issuance of assets on-chain; the focus now is on enabling these tokenized assets to be used for payments and collateral across financial markets."
The C2FO initiative centers on approved invoice financing. Ripple says companies may wait 30 or 60 or even 90 days after delivering goods and services to collect what they are owed. Delayed collection may tie up liquidity that companies need for payroll, inventory and new orders in these invoices during the waiting period. Under the initiative’s description, participating capital providers fund early payments, then settlement takes place on the XRP Ledger using RLUSD. Ripple said suppliers can receive funds within seconds instead of days, while invoice terms and due dates remain as agreed. The use of the network therefore does not mean changing the original payment terms between suppliers and buyers of goods or services.
C2FO said its Early Pay programs have helped companies access more than 520 billion in working capital by accelerating payment of approved invoices. The company says it serves small businesses and Fortune 50 buyers in more than 160 countries, processing millions of transactions annually. RLUSD, which will be the settlement asset in the Instant Pay initiative, has topped $2.5 billion in market capitalization, with more than $1 billion issued on the XRP Ledger, according to Ripple. The company says the network has processed more than 4.6 billion transactions since its launch. It also says settlement takes 3–5 seconds, the network operates 24/7, and settlement fees amount to a fraction of a cent.
For BNY, the bank said its vision for the future financial infrastructure is based on connecting payments, liquidity, collateral and securities through links between traditional systems and blockchain technology. BNY plans to expand support for tokenized assets and investment products issued on the XRP Ledger, and to work with Ripple to enable clients to mint and redeem RLUSD directly through the bank. These future plans remain subject to final and regulatory approvals, according to Ripple’s statement. The two companies did not specify when the proposed custody-related services and broader trade finance applications would become available, according to The Block. C2FO Instant Pay allows users to sign up for its waitlist, and the company says the launch will be limited over the coming months, with the service available in the United States at launch.