Ripple has rolled out significant upgrades to its institutional custody offering even as XRP plunged roughly 32% amid recent market turbulence. The company integrated hardware security modules and institutional staking partners, and secured European e‑money authorization, moves that seek to lower operational friction for banks and asset managers.
Ripple has added enterprise tooling aimed at compliance and custody operations. Key integrations include Securosys HSM technology for cryptographic key control and a partnership with Figment to enable institutional‑grade staking for networks such as Ethereum and Solana.
The Figment link is positioned to let custodians operationalize staking rewards inside custody workflows, with staking yields cited as roughly 3% APY for Ethereum in the reporting. On the regulatory and market‑access side, Ripple secured a full e‑money licence in Luxembourg and expanded stablecoin usage in the UAE with RLUSD, steps that broaden its ability to offer regulated rails across jurisdictions.
Those infrastructure gains stand in contrast to XRP’s short‑term performance: the token traded in a narrow band near $1.42–$1.45 before a flash crash to $1.11 on february 5, reflecting investor outflows and technical weakness rather than immediate demand from institutional adoption.
XRP’s slide and contributing market forces
XRP’s decline reflects several overlapping dynamics. Over the past month the token fell about 31% and a broader 32% slide has been recorded in recent periods. January saw material ETF outflows, including a single‑day outflow of $93 million, and reports in the sourced material noted large whale selling pressure—about $800 million—absorbed by the market.
Market technicians cited breaks below support at $1.20 and the earlier $2.80 level as triggers for automated selling. The reporting also links price stress to broader risk‑off moves and episodic external shocks, including an October 2025 intraday fall from $2.83 to $1.53 that illustrated sensitivity to macro and geopolitical headlines.
The custody additions reduce some operational barriers for banks and custodians by combining HSM security, staking integration and licensed e‑money rails. For treasuries and asset managers, the ability to earn protocol rewards inside custody could improve capital efficiency but will require decisions on custody fees, KYC/AML workflows and insurance coverage.
Practically, adoption will hinge on pilots translating into full deployments, the cost of custody and insurance, and further regulatory confirmations.
