Ripple and BCG Report Uncovers Why Financial Institutions Are Betting Big on Custody

Crypto infrastructure company Ripple on Thursday said custody is no longer just a vault, but an operational layer for digital finance. As crypto-tradFi convergence grows, financial institutions are betting big not only on crypto assets such as Bitcoin and XRP but also on underlying services such as custody.

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Ripple Positions Custody as Core to Digital Finance

With growing focus on governance, interoperability, and integration, digital asset custody is becoming a foundational operating layer of digital finance, according to a report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and commissioned by Ripple.

The Beyond Safekeeping: Custody as the Operating Layer Beneath Digital Finance report found that more than 30% of digital assets, excluding holdings on centralized exchanges, are now held through institutional custody models. This share is continuing to grow amid increased demand.

Under MiCA and the GENIUS Act, security and key management have now become requirements. Institutions now see governance, policy controls, interoperability across networks, and integration with existing financial infrastructure when selecting custody providers.

Real custody is the engine running the whole financial system, now powering tokenized assets, instant settlement, and cross-border transactions.

Digital asset custody is major for tokenized real-world assets, stablecoin issuance, payments, treasury, lending, and collateral management. This shifts the business case for custody to broader value creation.

Beyond custody to value creation. Makes Ripple’s acquisitions make more sense if there is a demand for custody operating as a layer for digital finance, covering tokenisation, payments, treasury, lending and use of digital assets as collateral.
It is amazing to hear that 30% and… https://t.co/roW1P0k54O

— bill morgan (@Belisarius2020) October 22, 2026

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How Institutions Can Boost Profits

BCG estimates that a regional bank with a $200-300 billion balance sheet could improve its profit and loss by up to $100 million with the right custody decisions. Major institutions including Morgan Stanley, Citi, and BNY are already building or expanding their own custody capabilities.

Moreover, institutions can use custody models such as Wallet-as-a-Service. It is gaining traction among fintechs focused on retail and payments. Meanwhile, larger banks are increasingly licensing self-custody technology and building products on top of it.

Ripple offers integrated crypto infrastructure services. This combines custody with settlement assets, payment rails, treasury, and execution to reduce the need for multiple separate integrations. Multi-custody orchestration behind a common control layer is also becoming a market standard.

As CoinGape reported earlier, Ripple partnered with Meritz Securities to bring institutional custody and tokenization to South Korea’s capital markets. With increasing institutional interest amid regulatory clarity and tradFi-focused blockchain improvements, the demand for custody will continue to grow to safeguard digital assets.