Absa teams up with Ripple to enter the crypto market
Key topics:
Ripple partners with Absa to offer secure digital asset custody in SA.
Africa sees rising demand for blockchain and crypto payments solutions.
XRP price plunged in crypto flash crash after US-China trade tensions.
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Ripple and Absa have announced a strategic partnership involving digital asset custody systems for the bank’s customers in South Africa.
“Through the partnership, Absa will leverage Ripple’s institutional-grade digital asset custody technology to deliver scalable and secure storage for tokenised assets, including cryptocurrencies,” Ripple said.
Absa is Ripple’s first major custody partner in Africa. Ripple said the partnership resulted from growing demand for secure, compliant digital asset infrastructure across emerging markets.
Ripple said its custody network now includes clients across Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Africa.
Earlier this year, Ripple announced it was supporting Africa-based payments provider Chipper Cash with its crypto-enabled payments technology.
It also announced the launch of its USD-backed stablecoin RLUSD in Africa.
Ripple said it was seeing increasing demand for its payments solution across Africa from crypto-native firms and traditional financial institutions.
According to Ripple’s 2025 New Value Report, 64% of Middle East and Africa finance leaders see faster payments and settlement times as the biggest impetus for incorporating blockchain-based currencies into their cross-border payments flows.
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“Africa is experiencing a major shift in how value is stored and exchanged,” said Reece Merrick, Ripple managing director for Middle East and Africa.
“Our partnership with Absa underscores Ripple’s commitment to unlocking the potential of digital assets on the continent.”
Merrick said Ripple was proud to support Absa’s digital asset ambitions as one of the continent’s most respected and innovative banks.
Ripple explained that as regulatory clarity around alternative investments increased across Africa, institutional interest in blockchain-based solutions was rising.
It said Ripple’s infrastructure enabled financial institutions like Absa to confidently explore new digital asset offerings while meeting strict security, operational, and regulatory requirements.
Robyn Lawson, the head of digital product and custody at Absa Corporate and Investment Banking, said that with Ripple, they can deliver the next generation of financial infrastructure to customers.
“As we continue to innovate and respond to the evolving financial ecosystem, we recognise the importance of providing our customers with secure, compliant, and robust custody solutions for their digital assets,” said Lawson.
“Ripple’s custody solution allows us to leverage proven and trusted technology that meets the highest security and operational standards.”
Crypto flash crash
Ripple’s announcement of a deal with a major African bank does not appear to have had much impact on the price of its XRP cryptocurrency.
XRP’s price crashed on Friday, 10 October 2025, along with many other major cryptocurrencies, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced an additional 100% tariff on China, together with export controls.
Washington was responding to Beijing’s response to U.S. rules that blocked countries from selling chip-making equipment to China, as the economic battle between the two nations intensifies.
China had tightened export controls on rare earths and other materials critical for advanced tech manufacturing, prompting the U.S. response.
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In addition to an extra 100% tariff on Chinese imports, Trump announced that the U.S. will impose export controls on “any and all” critical software from 1 November 2025.
Following the announcement, crypto markets were rocked by a flash crash that sent XRP’s price from around R49 per token to as low as R22.
While XRP prices quickly rebounded to around R41, the flash crash caused a mass of liquidations across the crypto industry, wiping out billions in leveraged trades.
This article was first published by MyBroadband and is republished with permission