Key Highlights
- Absa has launched a digital asset custody service using Ripple’s custody technology for institutional clients in Africa.
- The service helps institutions protect digital assets and manage private keys, while keeping control over transactions and approvals.
- The launch follows a partnership announced in October 2025 as South Africa continues to develop its crypto rules and institutional market.
Absa Corporate and Investment Banking has launched its Digital Asset Custody service on Monday, September 21, using Ripple’s technology to help institutions protect and manage digital assets in Africa.
According to the official page, this service provides a regulated environment for securing assets, managing private keys and keeping control over transactions and approvals.
The launch brings a partnership that was first announced in October 2025 into a live offering. Absa says the service is built to meet institutional standards, giving businesses a way to manage digital assets with the same care they expect when handling traditional assets.
How Absa’s custody service works
In its announcement on X, Absa described the launch as “a digital first for Africa, built to institutional standards.”
Digital asset custody means keeping digital assets safe and managing the private keys needed to access them. These keys are important because they allow their holders to control and move assets. If they are not properly protected, institutions can face security risks and lose control over their holdings.
Absa says its service provides a secure, regulated setting where institutions can manage their assets, transactions and approvals. The bank also points to the risks that can arise without proper custody, including security exposure, governance problems and regulatory challenges.
Ripple confirms its role in the launch
Ripple is providing the custody technology behind Absa’s new service. Reece Merrick, Ripple’s managing director for the Middle East and Africa, confirmed the partnership in a post on X.
“By leveraging Ripple’s custody technology, Absa is setting a new benchmark for secure, compliant, and bank-grade digital asset management on the continent,” Merrick wrote.
The launch follows the two companies’ partnership announcement in October 2025. At the time, Absa’s head of digital product for custody, Robyn Lawson, said Ripple’s system allowed the bank to use technology that met its security and operational standards.
Absa has not yet revealed which digital assets its custody service will support, how much customers will pay or which institutions will use it first. Interested institutional customers are directed to the bank’s sales desk.
Ripple continues expanding its custody business
Absa’s launch adds another institution to Ripple’s custody business. In February 2026, Ripple added Securosys hardware security modules and Figment staking capabilities to its custody offering. Figment serves more than 1,000 institutional clients.
Ripple has also said its wider business holds more than 60 regulatory licenses and registrations across the regions it serves.
Also Read: Zcash Foundation Denies Connection to ZRC-20 Token Project