From digital wallets to real-time cross-border payments, fintechs and neobanks have helped modernize finance, setting new standards for innovation and reshaping expectations for financial services. Now, with 10% of global assets forecast to be digital by 2030, fintechs have a new opportunity: institutional digital asset custody.
Many fintechs are already responding to rising demand for more secure, compliant storage of digital assets. For those seeking to capitalize on this opportunity, Ripple’s newest guide provides fintechs with a roadmap for how digital asset custody infrastructure can build trust, create new use cases and fuel growth across fintech custody services.
The Digital Asset Opportunity for Fintechs & Neobanks
Digital asset adoption has evolved into an increasingly mainstream component of financial portfolios. Initially driven by retail enthusiasm, the market for these assets is now witnessing rapid institutional adoption, with 96% of institutional stakeholders seeing digital assets as an important diversification opportunity.
This surge in interest is driving the $20 trillion opportunity and making institutional crypto custody a priority strategic investment for fintechs. Unlike less agile traditional providers, fintechs can move swiftly and decisively to meet market demand for institutional crypto custody infrastructure.
First movers are eager to leverage flexible, secure storage and management options—including multi-party computation and/or hardware security models for private key management—that address heightened compliance and security requirements for a broad range of digital assets.
Versatile Institutional Crypto Custody Solutions for Evolving Demands
Fintechs must be constant innovators, offering expanded use cases for an institutional investor and a digitally savvy retail customer base. This progressive mindset is why the industry’s revenues are predicted to grow nearly three times faster than that of the traditional banking sector. A robust custody solution will be key to this growth as it positions fintechs to serve both a wide range of current client needs and future use cases.
Institutional clients, for example, are seeking reliable custody options that provide security and regulatory compliance across complex portfolios. B2B fintechs can meet this demand with high-quality custody services tailored to institutional investors—such as banks and regional financial institutions—that allow for AML-compliant asset management and tokenized assets.
The custody service mix might be different for neobanks catering to younger customers in emerging markets where secure crypto on-ramps and off-ramps is a main priority. Given end-user needs, the custody service should also deliver on expectations for a user-friendly interface, higher transaction speeds and connections to liquid markets and multiple protocols.
Ripple Custody is a comprehensive, enterprise-grade solution that can support a wide spectrum of customer needs. Its combined digital asset custody and tokenization infrastructure also enables customizable control over operating and security models—including flexible deployment or private key management—giving fintechs the ability to bring even more innovative use cases to market. These could include:
Crypto custody and trading for institutional, high net worth and retail clients
Structured products with underlying digital assets
Issuance and custody of tokenized commodities like gold and other rare metals
Retail use cases for tokenization, such as NFTs in loyalty reward programs
Secure, seamless access to decentralized applications
By tapping Ripple Custody, fintechs can unlock new custody service revenue streams and expand their customer offerings without the cost and risk of building an in-house custody solution.
Proven, Purpose-Built Institutional Digital Asset Custody Solutions
With digital assets on the rise, fintechs and neobanks have a unique, urgent opening to outpace the competition by offering a new financial service and becoming the partner of choice for all their customers’ crypto asset custody and management needs.
Ripple Custody has been proven to reduce costs, strengthen security, and streamline digital asset management. Already trusted to support live commercial custody offerings in more than 20 regulatory jurisdictions today, Ripple Custody empowers fintechs to confidently meet evolving client demands, address regulatory compliance requirements and unlock new revenue streams as a reliable custody provider. Institutional client and retail demand for crypto custody services is steadily rising, and fintechs can capitalize on this growing user base with Ripple Custody.
Download Digital Asset Custody: Quick Guide for Fintechs to discover how you can remain ahead of the curve and activate new growth strategies as a crypto custodian.
