Zug-based AMINA Bank, the Swiss crypto-focused lender regulated by FINMA, said on 3 July that it has begun offering custody and over-the-counter trading for Ripple USD (RLUSD), becoming what it calls “the first bank globally” to support the dollar-pegged stablecoin and giving the six-month-old token its first foothold inside the traditional banking system. AMINA Bank Backs Ripple’s RLUSD RLUSD is issued by Standard Custody, a New York-chartered limited-purpose trust company wholly owned by Ripple Labs, and is fully backed “by cash and cash equivalents” held under NYDFS supervision; the token lives natively on both the XRP Ledger and Ethereum, allowing settlement across public and permissioned rails. Since its mid-December 2024 debut RLUSD’s market capitalization has climbed above $440 million, while the wider stablecoin sector has swollen to roughly $263 billion—both record highs that underscore accelerating institutional demand for regulated digital cash. “AMINA will enable its client base of professional investors, institutions and corporations to access Ripple’s stablecoin ecosystem with the security and governance clients expect from a traditional banking partner,” chief product officer Myles Harrison said, praising Ripple’s “commitment to transparency and compliance.” The partnership deepens ties forged when the bank—licensed in Switzerland since 2019 and now also regulated in Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong—pivoted to act as a multi-jurisdictional bridge between conventional finance and on-chain liquidity. For Ripple, AMINA’s endorsement follows April’s integration of RLUSD into Ripple Payments, the company’s cross-border treasury platform already live in more than 70 payout corridors, where early adopters such as BKK Forex and iSend are settling flows with the token. The announcement lands as the European Union’s MiCA regime , whose transaction-volume caps for non-e-money stablecoins took effect on 30 June 2024, forces issuers to demonstrate reserve integrity and governance discipline to maintain access to the bloc. Separately, Ripple confirmed on 2 July that it has applied for a national bank charter with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and—through its Standard Custody & Trust subsidiary—for a Federal Reserve master account, a step chief executive Brad Garlinghouse said would provide “both state (via NYDFS) and federal oversight, a new (and unique) benchmark for trust in the stablecoin market” while letting the firm hold RLUSD reserves “directly with the Fed” to “future-proof trust” in the token. At press time, XRP traded at $2.286.
