Standard Chartered has begun holding RLUSD, Ripple's dollar stablecoin, for institutional clients through its Dubai branch. With Ripple and LMAX Group, the bank plans to let RLUSD serve as trading collateral without leaving bank custody. Its value would be mirrored onto the LMAX platform instead. The collateral part has not launched yet and still depends on testing and approvals.

What it means: Standard Chartered holding RLUSD for institutional clients through its Dubai branch shows that large international banks are no longer watching stablecoins from a distance, but offering for them the same custody services they provide for shares, bonds and other traditional assets. For many institutional investors, custody by a regulated bank is a precondition for touching digital currencies at all, because their internal rules and supervisors demand reliable counterparties and clear segregation of assets. The plan with Ripple and LMAX, to use the stablecoin as trading collateral without it leaving the bank, is interesting because it tackles counterparty risk on trading platforms, but it has not launched and depends on testing and approvals, so it should not be taken for granted. In Europe, where MiCA determines which stablecoins are allowed, such services would have to comply with European rules, something investors should check carefully before any use in their own treasury or trading.

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