XRP Lands at BNY, RLUSD Lines Up a Trade Finance Job
XRP and RLUSD can now sit in BNY’s institutional custody, while a separate Ripple deal with C2FO will settle suppliers’ early invoice payments in RLUSD on the XRP Ledger.
Key Takeaways
- XRP and RLUSD now held in BNY custody
- Direct RLUSD minting through BNY is still planned
- C2FO Instant Pay will settle invoices in RLUSD
- Participating capital providers fund the early payments
Ripple announced both deals on October 27 at its Swell conference: an expanded collaboration with BNY and a separate partnership with working-capital platform C2FO.
What BNY switched on
BNY, which oversees $63.4 trillion in assets under custody or administration, was already part of Ripple’s stablecoin plumbing as RLUSD’s primary reserve custodian, and it had a custody relationship with Ripple Prime. Its Digital Asset Custody platform now supports XRP and RLUSD themselves, letting eligible institutional clients hold and transfer both.
That matters most for institutions that want a bank custodian before they touch an asset: asset managers, funds and pension plans that would rather keep crypto inside the same governance, controls and reporting as their bonds and equities. BNY began offering digital-asset custody in 2022 with bitcoin and ether. With spot XRP exchange-traded funds trading in the US since late 2025, issuers and allocators now have one more large custodian to choose from.
The more consequential plan for RLUSD has not started yet. BNY intends to let its clients mint and redeem RLUSD directly through the bank, turning dollars into the stablecoin and back at the same institution that holds its reserves. BNY also plans broader support for tokenized assets and investment products issued on the XRP Ledger. Neither plan has a date.
Where each piece stands
Live: BNY custody for XRP and RLUSD.
Planned: Direct RLUSD minting and redemption at BNY; wider support for XRPL-issued products.
Waitlist: C2FO Instant Pay, settled in RLUSD on the XRP Ledger.
Exploratory: A BNY, Ripple and C2FO supply-chain finance initiative for investors.
How C2FO Instant Pay would work
C2FO, which describes itself as the world’s largest working-capital platform, runs early-payment programs: a supplier with an approved invoice can get paid before the due date in exchange for a discount. The companies say C2FO’s Early Pay programs have already helped businesses access more than $250 billion in working capital.
Instant Pay targets the last leg of that process. Even after an early payment is approved, the money can take several days to clear through bank settlement. Under the new model, participating capital providers fund the payment and it settles in RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, which the companies say cuts the wait from days to seconds. The invoice itself does not change; its terms and due date stay as agreed between supplier and buyer. Suppliers keep using C2FO as they do now, and Instant Pay is open through a waitlist.
In practice, a supplier holding a $100,000 invoice due in 60 days could accept early payment at a discount and receive RLUSD shortly after approval. The capital provider then waits for the buyer to pay the full invoice on day 60, earning the discount as its return.
The “seconds” claim covers RLUSD arriving on the ledger. A supplier paying staff or vendors in dollars still has to convert RLUSD into bank cash, and neither release explains how that off-ramp works, what it costs or how long it takes. For suppliers already set up to hold and spend stablecoins, that step disappears. For a small manufacturer with payroll on Friday, it decides whether the payment is truly instant.
Two sides of the same receivable
BNY’s part in trade finance points at the other side of the trade. The BNY release describes tokenized trade finance as representing existing assets such as receivables on a blockchain, and calls the initiative with C2FO a first step “focused on expanding investor access to the asset class.” It is exploratory and subject to client requirements.
Read together, the two announcements sketch a pipeline. Suppliers sell approved invoices for faster cash, capital providers fund those payments, and tokenization could eventually let a wider pool of investors buy into the receivables. Only the first leg has a product name and a waitlist. Neither release says BNY will fund invoices from its own balance sheet.
Whoever funds the payments carries the main risk: that the buyer pays late or not at all. RLUSD settles the payment in dollars, but the buyer’s credit is what determines whether the investor gets paid. The open questions are therefore commercial ones: what the discount costs suppliers, which capital providers take part, which jurisdictions qualify, what recourse investors have on an unpaid invoice, and when the BNY initiative moves beyond exploration.
XRP gets a vault, RLUSD gets a job
For XRP, the gain is the custody access described above. Neither release ties XRP to the invoice flow or to any purchase commitment.
RLUSD is the asset doing the work. It settles Instant Pay, and BNY plans to mint and redeem it. The stablecoin has a market value of about $2.5 billion, more than $1 billion of it issued on the XRP Ledger. Its reserves will also come under Ripple’s own national trust bank, which won final approval on Monday to manage them once it opens, with BNY remaining custodian. Invoice payouts would join a growing set of regulated activity on the ledger, alongside products such as Aviva’s tokenized sterling fund share class.
Four things will show whether this becomes a working market: the first funded Instant Pay invoices and the discounts suppliers pay, the capital providers C2FO names, a go-live date for RLUSD minting at BNY, and whether the BNY and C2FO work produces a receivables product investors can actually buy.
This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Product availability, financing terms and institutional participation may change.
Alexander Zdravkov is a market analyst and crypto journalist with interests in economics, broader financial markets and digital assets. His journey into crypto began more than four years ago, driven by a fascination with the rapid evolution of blockchain technology and the transformative potential of decentralized finance. He began analyzing market cycles and identifying emerging trends before they reach the mainstream. He holds a degree in International Relations - a background that helped shape his broader perspective on global economics, geopolitics, and the interconnected nature of modern financial markets. Whether covering the latest developments in the crypto sector or exploring broader macroeconomic themes, Alexander focuses on giving readers context rather than simply repeating headlines. During his career, he has authored more than 5,000 articles covering cryptocurrencies, traditional finance, and global market developments. His work spans everything from Bitcoin and altcoins to macroeconomic trends influencing risk assets worldwide.
