The global custody services market is expected to grow from $41 billion in 2023 to more than $100 billion by 2033. Digital assets are driving this boom, and there is ample opportunity for custody providers across the finance industry to capitalize on this budding technology.
As institutional adoption of digital assets accelerates, clients are looking for more than safekeeping; they expect sophisticated, bank-grade infrastructure that balances robust regulatory compliance with seamless, around-the-clock usability.
Digital asset custodians that meet this call to facilitate use cases around custody, governance and trading can differentiate themselves from other providers and carve out their share of this multi-billion dollar market.
Ripple’s guide, Digital Asset Custody: Quick Guide for Custodians, provides a primer for how crypto custodians can position themselves at the forefront of the industry as digital assets continue to transform financial services.
The Case for Crypto Custody
Custodians are critical to the global financial ecosystem, serving as trusted partners for the storage and management of financial assets. But the growth of blockchain and digital assets presents new potential—and challenges—for custodians.
More than 10% of the world’s assets are expected to be tokenized by 2030, including real-world assets (RWAs) like financial instruments (stocks, bonds, ETFs) and even art and carbon credits. This wave of digital transformation reshaping the custody landscape calls for a next-generation solution.
The 24/7 nature of digital asset movement and trading requires that crypto custodians provide institutional clients constant accessibility without compromising security. Digital asset custodians must also support all relevant layer-1 blockchains, higher throughput capabilities and access to trading and liquidity venues. And, as transaction volumes increase, custodians must ensure their infrastructure scales effectively without compromising efficiency or global regulatory compliance.
Supporting New Use Cases
Beyond these basic capabilities, custodians that deploy an institutional-grade solution like Ripple Custody—which enables customizable control over operating and security models, including flexible deployment or management of private keys—can enable innovative new use cases for clients. These could include:
The issuance and custody of tokenized securities and RWAs or cryptocurrency custody and trading wallets for institutional and retail investors
Robust compliance controls and advanced governance frameworks for superior asset protection
Becoming a sub-custodian on a global custodian’s network for enhanced service distribution
Seamless access to liquidity providers, exchanges and lending and staking platforms
Building Tomorrow’s Digital Asset Custody Infrastructure
By leveraging Ripple Custody—which supports live commercial custody offerings in 20 regulatory jurisdictions—global custodians are primed to capitalize on the emerging trillion dollar market opportunity. Ripple Custody provides a competitive advantage by removing the frictions associated with managing digital assets. Its single, fully integrated platform reduces costs, improves security and creates efficiencies—all while ensuring compliance and unlocking new revenue streams.
Download Ripple’s Digital Asset Custody: Quick Guide for Custodians to discover how your organization can stay ahead in a market poised for exponential growth.
