Johannesburg: AfricUpdate – News Desk
Ripple, the leading provider of digital asset infrastructure for financial institutions, announced a strategic partnership with Absa Bank to provide digital asset custody to the bank’s customers in South Africa. Through the partnership, Absa will leverage Ripple’s institutional-grade digital asset custody technology to deliver scalable and secure storage for tokenized assets, including cryptocurrencies.
Absa, one of Africa’s leading financial institutions, becomes Ripple’s first major custody partner in Africa. This partnership is a result of the growing demand for secure, compliant digital asset infrastructure across emerging markets. Ripple’s expanding global custody network now includes clients across Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Africa, supporting financial institutions as they embrace the opportunities presented by digital asset technology.
As regulatory clarity around alternative investments increases across Africa, institutional interest in blockchain-based solutions is rising. Ripple’s infrastructure enables financial institutions like Absa to confidently explore new digital asset offerings while meeting strict security, operational, and regulatory requirements. The new partnership between Ripple and Absa extends Ripple’s existing operations on the continent. Earlier this year, Ripple announced it is supporting Africa-based payments provider Chipper Cash with its crypto-enabled payments technology, as well as the arrival of its USD-backed stablecoin RLUSD in Africa.
Ripple is seeing increasing demand for its payments solution across Africa from both crypto-native firms and traditional financial institutions. According to Ripple’s 2025 New Value Report, 64% of Middle East and Africa (MEA) finance leaders see faster payments and settlement times as the biggest impetus for incorporating blockchain-based currencies into their cross-border payments flows. Thanks to its simple, secure, compliant digital asset infrastructure, Ripple is well-positioned to provide the core services that financial institutions need to store, exchange and move digital assets. Ripple has over a decade of experience in the digital asset space and holds 60+ regulatory licenses and registrations in various jurisdictions.
