Ripple and SettleMint announced a strategic partnership on September 1, 2026 offering regulated financial institutions a unified solution to custody, issue, and manage tokenized assets across their full lifecycle. 

The partnership integrates Ripple Custody, Ripple’s institutional-grade digital asset custody infrastructure, with SettleMint’s Digital Asset Lifecycle Platform, and the two companies have already commenced the offering in Asia with plans to extend to other markets.

What Each Platform Brings to the Partnership

Ripple Custody has expanded its capabilities over the past year through partnerships with Securosys and Figment, an integration with Chainalysis, and the acquisition of Palisade, simplifying procurement so banks, fintechs, and corporates have a faster, less complex way to secure digital assets, stablecoins, and real-world assets, according to the joint announcement from Ripple and SettleMint. 

SettleMint’s platform, called DALP, is already in use across production and pre-production programs with institutions in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific.

Unlike point solutions that only handle token creation, DALP functions as a unified, governed control plane managing an asset’s entire lifecycle after launch, covering issuance, compliance, custody, settlement, and servicing on a single platform without multi-vendor assembly or reconciliation gaps.

Why Institutions Need Both Pieces Together

The combination means an institution can hold and manage digital assets in a regulated, compliant way across the full lifecycle through one integrated solution, rather than operating across separate vendors for custody, issuance, compliance, and servicing. 

That matters specifically for heavily regulated institutions that need compliance and permissioning controls built into every step of the process.

Ripple’s institutional digital-asset custody infrastructure is designed to accelerate the journey from pilot to production, and its integration into SettleMint’s platform extends that same governance and security model into SettleMint’s broader lifecycle management tools.

The Market Context Behind the Partnership

Boston Consulting Group’s May 2026 report, “The Future of Digital Assets,” projects tokenized real-world assets could reach $88 trillion by 2035, framing the shift as a fundamental restructuring of financial infrastructure. 

The same report warns that traditional banks failing to adapt to this shift face a potential 30% reduction in profits by 2035, while banks that do adapt can move from traditional intermediation toward infrastructure orchestration, creating new revenue streams through tokenized funds, automated collateral mobility, and advanced custody solutions.

Fiona Murray, Managing Director, Asia Pacific at Ripple, said financial institutions across the region are asking how to deploy digital assets without stitching together separate solutions for custody, issuance, and governance, and framed this partnership as giving them that foundation. 

Adam Popat, CEO of SettleMint, said global capital markets are moving fully onchain, and that shift only works when custody and lifecycle management operate as one system rather than two.

For readers tracking how banks are approaching institutional crypto infrastructure, this partnership fits a pattern our guide on banks already using Ripple’s products has covered, and it’s worth following alongside broader crypto news as more regulated institutions consolidate their digital asset vendors.

What this means for you: If you’re tracking how banks and regulated institutions are building digital asset infrastructure rather than avoiding it, this partnership shows two established providers combining custody and lifecycle management into a single offering aimed at reducing the operational complexity that has slowed institutional crypto adoption.

This is not financial advice. This partnership involves enterprise infrastructure for regulated financial institutions rather than a retail product, so review official company disclosures for details specific to your situation.