Ripple’s Africa Strategy Expands With Absa Bank Custody Deal

Key Notes

• Ripple’s 2025 Africa strategy includes payments via Chipper Cash, its RLUSD stablecoin with VALR, and now custody with Absa Bank.
• The new partnership will provide institutional-grade custody for tokenized assets to Absa Bank’s customers in South Africa.
• These strategic developments occur as XRP faces significant order book resistance at $2.60, with major support indicated at $2.40.

Ripple

XRP
$2.50



24h volatility:
1.9%


Market cap:
$149.91 B



Vol. 24h:
$5.86 B

, a provider of digital asset infrastructure, announced on Oct. 15 its partnership with Absa Bank to provide digital asset custody services in South Africa.

The move is the latest in a series of strategic initiatives by the company to expand its presence across the African continent in 2025.

Today, we’re excited to announce that @AbsaSouthAfrica, one of Africa’s leading financial institutions, is now @Ripple’s first major custody partner in Africa: https://t.co/9FQ5GTxMnK

We’re bringing institutional digital asset custody to South Africa, providing the secure and…

— Ripple (@Ripple) October 15, 2025

The collaboration with Absa Bank, one of Africa’s largest financial institutions, will focus on delivering institutional-grade storage for tokenized assets and cryptocurrencies.

According to the official announcement, the goal is to build a secure foundation for the growing digital asset market in the region. “Our goal is to unlock the potential of digital assets on the continent,” said Reece Merrick, Ripple’s Managing Director for the region.

Ripple’s Broader 2025 Africa Push

The Absa Bank partnership follows two other significant moves by Ripple in Africa this year. In March, the company partnered with African payments provider Chipper Cash to improve cross-border remittances.

This was followed in September by the launch of its RLUSD stablecoin on the continent through partners including VALR, Africa’s largest crypto exchange, and payments company Yellow Card.

These partnerships coincide with positive regulatory developments in the region. For instance, Kenya’s new digital assets bill seeks to establish a clear legal framework for virtual asset service providers, which could foster broader adoption.

XRP/USDT 1D chart. | Source: TradingView, Binance Futures

The news of Ripple’s systematic expansion comes as its associated asset, XRP navigates a tense market structure.

The asset shows a bearish bias on lower timeframes, with key support identified between $2.4516 and $2.4491. This support area is reinforced by order book data from the Binance Futures Exchange showing a significant buy wall of over $36 million at the $2.40 price level.

Conversely, the asset faces major resistance from a sell wall of over $34 million positioned at $2.60.

The fundamental developments in Africa provide a contrast to the asset’s recent price action, while other market signals like the CBOE’s confirmation of an XRP ETF also point to growing institutional interest.

Community reaction on the social media platform X was mixed. While many users praised the partnership as a bullish step for adoption in Africa, others expressed skepticism about its immediate impact on the XRP asset itself, highlighting a common point of debate among observers.

The announcement did not specify a launch timeline for Absa’s custody service or which digital assets would be supported initially.

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As a Web3 marketing strategist and former CMO of DuckDAO, Zoran Spirkovski translates complex crypto concepts into compelling narratives that drive growth. With a background in crypto journalism, he excels in developing go-to-market strategies for DeFi, L2, and GameFi projects.

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