Meritz Securities taps Ripple for digital asset infrastructure

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Ripple strengthens Korea footprint

Highlights

Meritz will evaluate Ripple Custody and tokenization infrastructure.
Cooperation will initially remain within existing Korean regulations.
No use of XRP or RLUSD has been announced for the partnership.

The companies signed the agreement on Oct. 1 at Meritz Securities headquarters in Seoul, with the partnership disclosed on Tuesday. Meritz will examine how Ripple Custody and its tokenization technology could be applied to South Korean capital markets before expanding cooperation as regulation develops, Crypto.News reports.

Custody and tokenization take priority

The initial work centers on infrastructure rather than a specific cryptocurrency product. Ripple Custody provides institutional systems for storing and managing digital assets, while its broader tokenization tools cover the issuance and administration of blockchain-based financial instruments.

Meritz is separately reviewing spot crypto ETFs, fractional investments, tokenized securities, digital asset trading platforms, and won-denominated stablecoins. It has not committed to launching any of those products, and no timetable has been announced.

The agreement also does not specify a role for XRP, RLUSD, or the XRP Ledger. That distinction matters because Ripple can provide custody and tokenization technology without XRP serving as a settlement asset.

Ripple builds on earlier Korean projects

Ripple already has experience testing institutional tokenization in South Korea. Its project with Kyobo Life Insurance uses Ripple Custody to explore holding, transferring, and settling tokenized Korean government bonds, with the aim of moving settlement closer to real time rather than the conventional two-day cycle.

The companies have also examined RLUSD as a possible payment rail for that project. Separately, Upbit listed RLUSD against the Korean won, Bitcoin, and USDT in July.

Other Korean financial groups are moving in the same direction. KB Securities has been working with Securitize and the Optimism Foundation on tokenized funds, while Shinhan Asset Management has explored a won-denominated tokenized fund backed by short-term bonds.

New rules could widen the market

The timing is significant because South Korea's security-token amendments are scheduled to take effect on Feb. 4, 2027, creating a clearer legal structure for tokenized stocks, bonds, and funds. Meritz intends to keep its initial work with Ripple inside current securities permissions and broaden the scope if new regulations allow it.

For Ripple, the partnership extends an Asia-Pacific institutional strategy built around custody, payments, and tokenization rather than relying solely on XRP adoption. For Meritz, it provides infrastructure that can be evaluated before the regulatory transition without requiring an immediate product launch.

XRP showed little immediate response to the announcement, trading around $1.47 on Oct. 7. The partnership therefore remains primarily an infrastructure and capital-market development rather than an XRP-specific agreement.

We also reported Ripple targets autonomous payments as AI agents gain ground.

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