A major move in crypto infrastructure opens secure staking for banks and asset managers without validator risk
Ripple, the blockchain payments and infrastructure company best known for its XRP token and enterprise technology, has taken a significant step in broadening its institutional product offerings with new staking capabilities for Ethereum and Solana inside its custody platform. This development marks a shift in how regulated financial institutions can participate in proof of stake networks, earn yield on digital assets, and integrate these services into traditional financial workflows.
Institutional Demand Meets Blockchain Innovation
For years, institutional interest in digital assets has grown steadily. Traditional banks, custodians, and asset managers have been cautious in entering the crypto space due to regulatory complexity, operational risk, and the need for secure infrastructure. Storing digital assets in a custody platform is just one piece of the puzzle. Institutions also want yield generating services that align with their risk governance and compliance standards. Proof-of-stake networks like Ethereum and Solana offer precisely this opportunity: holders can lock up tokens to help secure the network and earn rewards.
Ripple’s latest announcements bring these services directly into its custody stack through partnerships with Figment, a leading staking infrastructure provider, and Securosys, a cybersecurity firm that supplies high security hardware key management systems. The goal is to make staking available to regulated institutions without requiring them to operate their own validator infrastructure historically a major barrier to entry.
Under this setup, institutions can offer staking for networks such as Ethereum and Solana as part of their custody services. Instead of building validator operations from scratch, they leverage Ripple’s secure custody environment with integrated compliance checks, advanced key management hardware, and validated staking infrastructure. This model allows banks and asset managers to provide staking rewards and yield products to their clients, which were previously difficult to deliver without significant technical overhead.
How the Integration Works
The backbone of this expansion is the collaboration with Figment, which operates validator nodes and staking services for institutional clients across many proof of stake ecosystems. Figment’s infrastructure is known for supporting over a thousand institutional clients and delivering reliable validator performance and reporting tools. By combining Figment’s staking layer with Ripple’s custody platform, institutions can seamlessly offer staking within the same secure custody workflow where they already hold assets.
On the security side, Ripple Custody has integrated CyberVault HSM and CloudHSM hardware security modules from Securosys. Hardware security modules (HSMs) give banks and custodians enterprise grade control over cryptographic keys a critical requirement for regulated digital asset custody. These modules help institutions meet strict regulatory controls while allowing keys to be managed on-premises or in the cloud, based on operational preference.
Combined, these layers advanced key management, built in compliance, and third party staking execution aim to remove operational complexity and help institutions roll out staking products quickly and confidently.
Why This Matters for Institutions
Traditionally, staking meant that a network participant had to run validator infrastructure or rely on third-party services that may not meet institutional governance requirements. Operating validator nodes is technically demanding, requires continuous monitoring, and introduces risks if misconfigured. For highly regulated institutions, these risks translate into compliance, audit, and operational headwinds. Ripple’s approach essentially wraps staking into a custody platform, reducing the need for outside validator infrastructure and ensuring services align with internal governance models.
This is likely to be attractive for several institutional profiles:
Banks and Custodians who want to add crypto yield products without maintaining validator networks.
Asset Managers who need secure, compliant workflows that integrate staking into diversified asset strategies.
Fintechs and Wealth Managers looking to offer a broader suite of digital asset services beyond custody and trading.
By bringing staking into regulated custody, Ripple aims to enable yield‐bearing products on major protocols while meeting the stringent risk frameworks that institutions demand.
XRP’s Role Within Ripple’s Broader Strategy
Interestingly, while these staking services are being introduced, they highlight a structural difference between XRP and proof of stake tokens. XRP itself does not offer on-chain staking rewards through protocol mechanics; the XRPL uses a consensus algorithm that does not lock tokens for securing the network. This means that XRP holders within Ripple Custody cannot earn native staking yield directly from XRP alone.
Analysts note that despite this, XRP still attracts institutional allocations and strong inflows into related products. This suggests that demand for XRP often comes from its utility as a connective asset for remittances, cross-border flows, and settlement within regulated frameworks, rather than yield generation alone. Ripple appears to treat XRP as a core liquidity and bridge asset, while staking yield is generated from assets like Ethereum and Solana that support proof-of-stake reward mechanisms.
This multi-asset strategy lets Ripple Custody offer yield products while keeping XRP at the center of its ecosystem as a bridge and transaction asset across denominations and rails.
Broader Trends in Institutional Crypto Infrastructure
Ripple’s move reflects a broader trend in the institutional crypto space: the convergence of secure custody, compliance, and yield products. Firms like Coinbase Custody, Anchorage Digital, and Fireblocks have similarly pursued staking, governance, and lending offerings tailored to regulated clients. The difference with Ripple is its emphasis on integrating these services directly into a custody workflow with advanced hardware security and compliance tooling baked in.
Institutional appetite for staking grows with each year as proof-of-stake networks mature and regulatory environments become more defined. Many institutions now view staking not just as a way to earn returns but as part of a broader digital asset ecosystem that can deliver integrated financial products, such as lending, structured yield products, and asset servicing.
Despite this progress, analysts also caution that infrastructure developments do not always translate immediately into market impact or price dynamics. Some market reports indicate that institutional uptake and XRP price action have not yet shown dramatic shifts in response to custody expansions, highlighting the complex interplay between product availability, regulatory clarity, and market sentiment.
Outlook for the Future
Ripple’s expansion of custody services to include staking for Ethereum and Solana represents a notable milestone in the maturation of institutional crypto infrastructure. With partnerships across security and staking infrastructure providers, Ripple is positioning itself as a one stop platform for regulated entities that want safe asset custody plus yield potential. As regulatory frameworks around the world continue to evolve, such integrated platforms could play an increasingly vital role in the adoption of digital assets within traditional finance.
For XRP itself, staking may remain an open question, with community discussions ongoing about whether staking features might eventually be introduced to the XRPL ecosystem. For now, institutions seeking native on-chain yield will rely on proof of stake networks like Ethereum and Solana, but the integration with Ripple Custody highlights how legacy and emerging financial models can converge in the world of digital assets.
