Ripple has recently announced a significant partnership with Absa Bank in South Africa. This strategic collaboration enables Absa to employ Ripple’s custody technology for managing tokenized assets, which include various cryptocurrencies.

Through this alliance, Absa obtains access to Ripple’s high-grade institutional technology, furthering Ripple’s aim to weave digital assets into traditional financial systems throughout Africa.

Institutional Digital Asset Custody

This partnership represents Ripple’s inaugural major custody effort in Africa, coinciding with the rising interest among financial institutions in emerging markets for compliant digital asset management solutions.

By enhancing its presence on the continent, Ripple builds on its previous initiatives, including the support for Africa-focused payment service Chipper Cash, and the introduction of its USD-backed stablecoin, RLUSD.

In an official comment, Robyn Lawson, Head of Digital Product, Custody, at Absa Corporate and Investment Banking, stated:

“As we continue to innovate and respond to the evolving financial ecosystem, we recognise the importance of providing our customers with secure, compliant, and robust custody solutions for their digital assets. Ripple’s custody solution allows us to leverage proven and trusted technology that meets the highest security and operational standards. Together, we can deliver the next generation of financial infrastructure to our customers.”

Ripple’s global custody network now expands across Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Africa, assisting financial institutions in navigating the evolving blockchain and tokenized asset environments.

Ripple’s 2025 New Value Report highlighted that 64% of financial leaders in the Middle East and Africa view faster payments and settlement times as crucial in adopting blockchain-centric currencies for international transactions.

Other Key Developments

This development follows a recent partnership of Ripple with Bahrain Fintech Bay, aiming to bolster Bahrain’s digital assets landscape. The partnership focuses on creating proofs-of-concept and pilot projects within blockchain, international payments, digital assets, stablecoins, and tokenization, alongside knowledge dissemination initiatives through educational programs and local ecosystem events.