Ripple plans to acquire digital asset platform Standard Custody

Ripple on Tuesday announced a deal to acquire the New York-based digital asset platform Standard Custody and Trust Company. 

Though the acquisition still needs go to through a regulatory approval process, Ripple will become the sole shareholder once the deal closes, a spokesperson told The Block. Ripple will use Standard Custody's limited purpose trust charter and money transmitter licenses to bolster  its regulatory licenses portfolio.

"What Standard Custody brings to the portfolio here is another set of important licenses with trust licenses in the U.S.," Ripple President Monica Long told The Block in an interview. "Being able to provide not just the technology component to financial institutions who want to use blockchain for all types of decentralized financial services, you also need a compliance piece. And so these licenses are really key to us being able to deliver that full end-to-end solution."

"The trust licenses add to our portfolio, which include MTL or multiple sets of money transmission licenses in the U.S.," Long added. "We also got the MPI license in Singapore, in addition to licenses that we're seeking in the UK and Europe."

Standard Custody provides digital asset custody, escrow and settlement services for institutional clients. It was among the first digital asset firms to receive de novo application approval for a New York trust license in May 2021, The Block previously reported. 

Ripple's expansion

Ripple has increased its European custody team and is working with clients across five continents, according to a company spokesperson. Its public clients include HSBC, DekaBank, VP Bank and DZ Bank in Germany, and the firm maintains relationships with Société Générale, BBVA Switzerland, DBS and Zodia Custody.

Standard Custody is a subsidiary of the digital asset infrastructure firm PolySign, which raised $53 million in Series C funding in June 2022, The Block previously reported.