Ripple Labs Acquires Standard Custody as Part of its Portfolio Firms

Blockchain payments firm Ripple Labs announced its acquisition of Standard Custody & Trust Company, an enterprise-grade regulated platform for digital assets. 

Ripple and Standard Custody Deal Awaiting Approval

Ripple Labs has agreed to acquire Standard Custody, a subsidiary of PolySign, in a deal that is still awaiting regulatory approval. The request for approval from the appropriate authorities underscores Ripple’s commitment to complying with regulations available in different jurisdictions. The deal is also another means for the firm to explore new opportunities and enhance its existing products. 

Once the deal pulls through, the crypto firm will become the sole shareholder of Standard Custody, thereby becoming a custodian of all the firm’s existing licenses and registration. Precisely, Ripple Labs will leverage Standard Custody’s limited purpose trust charter as well as its money transmitter licenses to boost its regulatory licenses portfolio amongst other perks.

Ripple’s President Monica Long shared her thoughts on the acquisition as well as Ripple’s stance. 

“What Standard Custody brings to the portfolio here is another set of important licenses with trust licenses in the U.S.,” Long said 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.”

Besides Standard Custody, Ripple has also added Metaco, a custody solutions provider to its portfolio of companies as it looks to bolster its business across different jurisdictions.

Ripple Labs Pushing for More Expansion

It looks like Ripple Labs is gradually trying to establish its position in the financial landscape, especially after almost three years of being subjected to enforcement actions by the U.S. SEC. 

Amongst other things, XRP is one of the intense drivers in the Ripple ecosystem and with the verdict from Judge Analisa Torres declaring the coin is not an investment contract, Ripple is looking at bolstering its business reach across the board.

XRP is popular for its utilization in cross-border payments and has been moving Ripple towards reactivation and further expansion. Ripple’s Senior Director W. Oliver Segovia mentioned that the settlement firm is now looking to push Ripple Payments service, a payment option that leverages XRP, within the U.S. 

Beyond all that it has achieved so far, the crypto payments firm is still keen on expanding its services further.