XRP (XRP) has jumped off a key support at $1.32 today, following news that Standard Chartered will act as custodian of Ripple USD (RLUSD).
In a deal announced on Monday, the British bank announced that it participated in a deal between Ripple and the LMAX Group, an institutional trading services firm.
The deal would allow LMAX’s customers to send their RLUSD to Standard Chartered for greater flexibility, compliance, and safety.
“Institutional clients want to participate in digital asset markets without compromising on how their assets are safeguarded or how risk is managed,” commented Standard’s Global Head of Digital Assets, Waqar Chaudry.
He added: “By integrating our capabilities with Ripple and LMAX, we can help clients incorporate digital assets more confidently into their broader financial activities.”
Adoption of Ripple USD Accelerated Considerably in 2026
This is another milestone in Ripple’s path to becoming a globally recognized force in the prime brokerage and payments business. By partnering with top-notch institutions like Standard Chartered, the company immediately boosts the credibility of its native stablecoin.
In just a few years, Ripple USD (RLUSD) has become a strong player in this segment of the crypto space, currently boasting a $2.4 billion market cap. Meanwhile, Ripple has been securing licenses in key jurisdictions to facilitate payments and other financial services that use RLUSD as the settlement asset.
RLUSD gives the XRP Ledger multiple extra use cases and could drive significant ecosystem growth in the next few years.
That said, Wall Street has been reluctant to keep pouring money into exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to XRP this month, possibly deterred by this latest pullback.
Data from SoSoValue indicates that net inflows to these vehicles sit at around $12 million this month. If the current trend continues, monthly inflows will end at less than $30 million, representing a 75% decline compared to September.
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See all Ripple forecastsXRP May Drop to $1.28 Before It Bounces Back to Our $1.80 Target
The fact that big banks like Standard are participating in these kinds of deals is an indication that the asset is gaining traction on the institutional front, which could end up driving higher levels of adoption of this blockchain.
That said, we are currently in the latest pullback phase of what could be the beginning of a bull market for XRP. The $1.32 level continues to be the key support to watch in the near term, as the price action has once again confirmed its technical relevance.
This area of support coincides with the token’s 200-day exponential moving average (EMA), which is also a key technical indicator closely tracked by market participants.
We expect that this area will hold in the near term. However, XRP could still drop to $1.28 before its rally resumes. If that last line of defense is lost, then the odds of a much stronger decline will increase dramatically, as XRP could eye the $1 level as its next stop.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) just dipped to 40, which is often interpreted as a sell signal. Hence, we expect that this pullback should already be nearing its end.
For the next few weeks, our short-term target for XRP continues to be the $1.80 area, followed by a stronger climb to $2.10, as long as that $1.28 support holds.
