Two announcements on October 27 put Ripple’s stablecoin, RLUSD, in front of more of Wall Street’s plumbing. BNY, a major custody bank, said its digital asset custody platform now supports XRP and RLUSD for eligible institutional clients. Separately, Ripple and Robinhood expanded their partnership, with RLUSD going live on Robinhood Chain and on Bitstamp, the exchange Robinhood owns.

The headlines blur what is already working and what is only planned, so this piece separates the two. Most of the ambitious parts are still ahead.

What BNY says is live

According to BNY’s release, clients who qualify can now safekeep, hold and transfer XRP and RLUSD on its Digital Asset Custody platform. The release does not define who is “eligible” or name the jurisdictions where it applies, and BNY’s boilerplate says not every product is available in every country or to every customer. As of our reporting, BNY’s public custody page does not yet mention the two assets, and no client has been named.

The relationship is not brand new. Ripple named BNY the primary custodian of RLUSD’s reserves in July 2025, according to CoinDesk, so holding the assets that back the token was already BNY’s job. What changed is that BNY will now also hold the token and XRP on behalf of its own clients. For a plain-English explanation of what a custodian does, see our glossary entry.

What BNY says is still ahead

BNY and Ripple said they intend to let BNY clients mint and redeem RLUSD directly through BNY, and to broaden support for tokenized assets and investment products issued on the XRP Ledger. BNY’s footnote makes that plan subject to final BNY and regulatory approvals, and gives no dates. The two firms are also exploring a supply-chain finance project with the payments company C2FO that would put approved invoices, known as receivables, on the XRP Ledger. A C2FO and Ripple release describes moving its Instant Pay financing and settlement onto the ledger, settled in RLUSD, with a waitlist for businesses and no launch date. Cointelegraph reports first transactions are expected by year-end, a timeline that does not appear in the Ripple release.

The Robinhood side

Ripple’s release lists what is live: RLUSD on Robinhood Chain and on Bitstamp. Several pieces are planned. RLUSD in the Robinhood app is expected later this year. Ripple Prime, the firm’s institutional brokerage, plans to support perpetual futures on Bitstamp later this year, and it already provides lending and margin financing for about 20 digital assets there. Robinhood also plans to use RLUSD on the XRP Ledger for institutional settlement across Bitstamp’s institutional business and to adopt Ripple Treasury software for cash and liquidity management, neither with a date.

The distribution argument rests on Robinhood’s reach: the release cites 28.6 million funded customers. That is a company figure, and it describes the potential audience, not the number of people who will hold RLUSD. We did not find a Robinhood press release on the deal; its position appears through a quote inside Ripple’s announcement.

How big is RLUSD?

Sources differ slightly, which is normal for a moving number. Ripple, BNY and C2FO described a market value of about $2.5 billion in their releases, DefiLlama data cited by Cointelegraph showed about $2.57 billion, and The Block quoted Ripple at more than $2.6 billion on October 28. RLUSD launched in December 2024. Against total stablecoin supply that the Ripple release puts above $300 billion, it is a small share, under one percent, in a market still dominated by Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC.

Part of a larger pattern

Large banks are adding stablecoins to their custody shelves one at a time. BNY said on June 29, 2026 that USDC was the first stablecoin on its custody platform, with minting and burning through BNY, and that other issuers would follow. RLUSD is the second. State Street launched a Digital Asset Platform in January 2026 aimed at tokenized funds and cash products, and Citi confirmed in August that it plans institutional bitcoin custody before the end of the year, a plan rather than a live service.

Ripple is also building its own bank-style footing. The OCC gave final approval on October 26 for a Ripple national trust bank that will manage RLUSD reserves and offer fiduciary custody once it opens, with RLUSD issuance staying with Standard Custody & Trust Company. No opening date was given. For background on that charter path, see our reporting on the race for federal crypto trust charters and our charter comparison. On October 28, Coinbase also added RLUSD for retail and institutional customers, according to The Block. The wider banking push is covered in our piece on the 21-bank stablecoin venture.

What we do not know

BNY has not said who counts as an eligible client, which jurisdictions are covered, or how many clients hold either asset. The Robinhood app launch has no date beyond “later this year,” and the XRP Ledger settlement plans have no date at all. Some XRP Ledger metrics in the release, such as transaction counts and settlement times, are company-reported. One outlet reported a credit-style rating for RLUSD that we could not confirm from a second source, so we have left it out.

Why it matters

Custody is the quiet prerequisite for institutional money. A pension fund or corporate treasury often cannot hold an asset until a regulated custodian it already uses supports it. BNY’s move means one more token can clear that hurdle for eligible clients, and the Robinhood link tests whether a stablecoin can reach both retail apps and institutional settlement. The open question is demand: custody support lets customers hold RLUSD, but it does not make them want to. The markers to watch are the first named BNY clients, the mint-and-redeem approvals, the Robinhood app launch, and the opening of Ripple’s trust bank. This is reporting, not investment advice.

Further reading

Frequently asked

What did BNY announce on October 27, 2026?

BNY said its Digital Asset Custody platform now supports XRP and RLUSD for eligible institutional clients, who can safekeep, hold and transfer the assets. It also said it and Ripple intend to let clients mint and redeem RLUSD through BNY, subject to final BNY and regulatory approvals.

Can anyone hold XRP or RLUSD at BNY?

No. The service is for eligible institutional clients, and BNY has not published what qualifies or which jurisdictions are covered. BNY’s boilerplate notes that not all products are available to all customers or in all countries.

Can I buy RLUSD in the Robinhood app yet?

Not yet. Ripple’s release says RLUSD is live on Robinhood Chain and on Bitstamp, and that RLUSD in the Robinhood app is expected later this year, without a specific date.

What is RLUSD?

RLUSD is a dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Ripple’s Standard Custody & Trust Company. It launched in December 2024 and has a market value of roughly $2.5 billion to $2.6 billion depending on the source. BNY has been the primary custodian of its reserves since July 2025. For the general concept, see our stablecoin glossary entry.

Is BNY the first big bank to support a stablecoin in custody?

No. BNY said on June 29, 2026 that USDC was the first stablecoin on its custody platform, so RLUSD is the second. Other large institutions, such as State Street and Citi, have announced digital asset platforms or plans of their own, at different stages.