Digital asset custody is evolving from a simple vault into a foundational operating layer for digital finance, according to a report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) commissioned by Ripple. The report, titled “Beyond Safekeeping: Custody as the Operating Layer Beneath Digital Finance,” found that more than 30% of digital assets—excluding holdings on centralized exchanges—are now held through institutional custody models, and that share is growing amid increased demand.
Regulation Raises the Bar
Under MiCA and the GENIUS Act, security and key management have become requirements. When selecting custody providers, institutions now consider governance, policy controls, interoperability across networks, and integration with existing financial infrastructure.
Ripple said custody is no longer just a vault but an operational layer for digital finance. As crypto and traditional finance converge, financial institutions are betting big not only on crypto assets such as Bitcoin and XRP but also on underlying services such as custody.
Beyond Safekeeping
According to the report, real custody is the engine running the whole financial system, now powering tokenized assets, instant settlement, and cross-border transactions. Digital asset custody is major for tokenized real-world assets, stablecoin issuance, payments, treasury, lending, and collateral management. This shifts the business case for custody toward broader value creation.
Profit Potential and Adoption
BCG estimates that a regional bank with a $200–300 billion balance sheet could improve its profit and loss by up to $100 million with the right custody decisions. Major institutions including Morgan Stanley, Citi, and BNY are already building or expanding their own custody capabilities.
Institutions can use custody models such as Wallet-as-a-Service, which is gaining traction among fintechs focused on retail and payments. Meanwhile, larger banks are increasingly licensing self-custody technology and building products on top of it.
Ripple offers integrated crypto infrastructure services that combine custody with settlement assets, payment rails, treasury, and execution to reduce the need for multiple separate integrations. Multi-custody orchestration behind a common control layer is also becoming a market standard.
As CoinGape reported earlier, Ripple partnered with Meritz Securities to bring institutional custody and tokenization to South Korea’s capital markets. With increasing institutional interest amid regulatory clarity and tradFi-focused blockchain improvements, demand for custody is expected to continue growing to safeguard digital assets.
