Table of Contents
TL: DR,
- With Nigeria alone processing over $660 million in blockchain transactions, the Ripple-Absa partnership introduces regulated digital asset custody to meet Africa’s surging institutional demand.
- Ripple’s enterprise custody stack brings FSCA-aligned, multi-signature, cold storage and audit controls, giving banks a compliant, lower-risk path into tokenization.
- Absa moves from pilots to production—powering treasuries, tokenized portfolios, and property assets—advancing financial inclusion via regulated on-chain rails.
The fusion between blockchain and traditional financial markets is rapidly increasing. The fact is that decentralized finance is the future, and banks from all over are adapting. In recent news, Ripple has partnered with Absa Group Limited, one of South Africa’s largest financial institutions, to roll out secure digital asset custody services across Africa.
At its core, it combined Absa’s banking network to serve regulated in regulated institutions and large clients across 12 markets. Beyond the headline-grabbing alliance, it’s a practical solution to how banks secure digital assets as institutional adoptions drive the digital asset market.
Ripple and Absa Unite to Deliver Institutional-Grade Digital Asset Custody
Absa Bank, serving over 12 million customers across more than ten African countries, will integrate Ripple’s enterprise-grade custody platform. This gives the traditional financial asset the means to manage and safeguard real-world assets, stablecoins, and cryptocurrencies.
The institutional crypto custody solutions are intended to satisfy both global and local regulatory expectations. Currently, due to the worldwide adoption of Bitcoin ETFs, more institutions want exposure to tokenized finance, but with minimal risk given the market’s volatility. As Absa’s Custody head, Robyn Lawson put it:
“Ripple’s custody solution allows us to leverage proven and trusted technology that meets the highest security and operational standards. Together, we can deliver the next generation of financial infrastructure to our customers.”
Ripple is well known for its focus on adoption, driving use cases rather than pumping its native token XRP. Absa will become Africa’s first major bank to offer institutional-grade crypto custody, providing a modernized strategy to changing markets. Unlike experimental pilot programs often stalling at the proof-of-concept stage, this collaboration went operational immediately upon announcement.
RELATED: South African Fintech Startups to Watch in 2025: Cutting-Edge Payment Solutions for SMEs and Beyond
Why institutional crypto custody matters in Africa
Institutional adoption of blockchain-based assets is a major win, especially in Africa. Traditional banks, major investors in the stock markets, can now participate safely in tokenization and digital asset markets.
It’s a major win, especially within the continent where most investors and institutions rely on offshore custody providers with limited local regulatory oversight or with global service options often raising security concerns.
Absa, South African Bank has been a known adopter of digital assets.[Photo: FurtherAfrica]
This also gives Ripples stablecoin, RLUSD, a chance to join Africa’s $50 billion stablecoin market. By September 2025, RLUSD’s market cap was over $700 million, and Ripple’s payment stack included it. It grew a lot in Africa thanks to its partnerships with Yellow Card, VALR, and Chipper Cash. This helps businesses with things like cross-border settlement and treasury, and it strengthens a trend toward bank-friendly rails that can speed up institutional adoption.
It’s a regional infrastructure buildout that acknowledged Africa’s increasing importance in global digital asset adoption. Nigeria alone processed over ₦1 trillion (approximately $660 million) in blockchain transactions between late 2022 and 2024 through the Zone Network payment infrastructure, demonstrating the continent’s readiness for institutional-grade services.
Mapping the Expansion
- South Africa
- Nigeria
- Tanzania
- Mauritius
- Kenya
- Namibia
- Ghana
- Botswana
- Mozambique
- Uganda
- Seychelles
- Zambia
The Trust Framework
South Africa has diligently aligned its regulations to accommodate its market expansions. The state is currently Africa’s most matured market for digital asset regulation wth the with the FSCA having licensed 248 crypto firms by 2024.
The digital asset custody solution meets the requirements set by the FSCA. Ripple already employs multi-layered security protocols designed for institutional requirements—think multi-signature authentication, cold storage solutions, and comprehensive audit trails that meet banking-grade compliance standards.
Absa comes in with a ready list of investors eager to join the lucrative market. This generally means their tokenized holdings are managed through systems that align with the same regulatory frameworks governing traditional financial assets. The new platforms are precisely how banks secure digital assets in practice. From a technical standpoint, it manages the entire lifecycle of digital asset custody: onboarding, storage, transaction processing, and reporting.
The partnership is a means for institutional adoption in South Africa.
Absa Digital Asset Services Banking on the Future
Absa Digital Asset Services is an old plan being actualized. In early 2025, the bank launched custody and fund administration services in Kenya to support institutional investors. It foreshadowed the Ripple partnership. Now, corporate treasuries can hold stablecoin reserves for cross-border payments, investment firms can offer tokenized asset portfolios to clients, and real estate developers can manage tokenized property ownership.
Rate of digital asset adoption in South Africa.[Photo: Datawallet]
CHECK OUT: Comply or Cry: Binance’s New Rules Shake Up South African Crypto.
In this context, compliant digital asset custody is rising, and banks, major investors in the market, are eager to join in. That’s the promise here: a custody stack that plugs into bank‑grade processes while enabling new value flows. Importantly, the collaboration supports financial inclusion goals by inviting regulated institutions into on‑chain markets rather than leaving innovation solely to non‑bank players. As those rails mature, Absa digital asset services can help connect traditional finance to tokenized wealth, funds, and payments with lower friction and greater interoperability.
