Ripple Labs Partners with BNY Mellon in Strategic Move to Modernize Cross-Border Settlement

More evidence of a further merging of traditional finance and blockchain infrastructure, Ripple Labs has announced a strategic partnership with Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) to modernize cross-border settlement systems for institutional clients. The collaboration is being hailed as a major step in Ripple’s global enterprise push and a pivotal moment for blockchain’s integration into legacy financial infrastructure.

Under the terms of the deal, BNY Mellon will begin utilizing Ripple’s enterprise blockchain technology, including its liquidity management platform and XRP Ledger, to enhance the speed, transparency, and efficiency of cross-border payments for select treasury and custody services. The announcement, made jointly by both companies this morning, positions Ripple as a key infrastructural player for one of the oldest and most respected banks in the world.

BNY Mellon, with over $47 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, becomes the largest U.S.-based custodian bank to incorporate Ripple’s blockchain technology into its operational framework. RippleNet, Ripple’s global payments network, will be used in conjunction with Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution, which leverages XRP for real-time settlement between currencies.

“Ripple’s technology gives us the tools to significantly streamline and enhance global settlement,” said Brian Shea, Vice Chair of BNY Mellon, in a press release. “As the financial world continues to digitize, we’re committed to aligning with partners that enable operational efficiency while meeting rigorous regulatory and compliance standards.”

The pilot phase will involve key BNY Mellon institutional clients, with a phased rollout expected across multiple corridors including Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and parts of Europe over the next 12 months.

A Win for Ripple and for XRP

For Ripple Labs, this partnership is a milestone in its mission to shift global payments infrastructure from slow, opaque, and costly systems toward real-time, blockchain-powered solutions. Ripple has long targeted the inefficiencies of SWIFT-based settlement, arguing that decentralized ledger technology can eliminate multi-day processing times and reduce dependency on pre-funded nostro accounts.

Importantly, the BNY Mellon deal cements XRP’s role as a liquidity bridge currency in institutional flows—a use case Ripple has heavily promoted even amid past regulatory headwinds.

“Partnering with BNY Mellon is a testament to the institutional-grade reliability of our infrastructure,” said Monica Long, President of Ripple, in a statement. “Together, we are advancing a more interconnected, interoperable, and resilient global financial ecosystem.”

Ripple’s legal challenges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which once cast a shadow over its operations, appear to be firmly in the rearview. With the SEC settlement finalized in late 2024, and the XRP token now widely acknowledged as a digital commodity rather than a security, Ripple has regained momentum, particularly in the corporate and institutional sectors.

The BNY Mellon partnership joins a growing list of enterprise wins for Ripple, including relationships with Santander, SBI Holdings, and the UAE’s Al Maryah Bank. Industry insiders suggest that several other Tier 1 banking institutions are in advanced stages of evaluating Ripple’s platform for integration.

Ripple’s partnership with BNY Mellon arrives as global institutions are accelerating digital asset adoption, not necessarily to hold volatile cryptocurrencies, but to leverage the underlying technology for payments, tokenization, and liquidity management.

It also reinforces a growing narrative that the convergence of TradFi and DeFi is not theoretical, it’s happening now. Blockchain technologies, once the realm of crypto enthusiasts and disruptors, are becoming tools of choice for global custodians, asset managers, and central banks.

As Ripple Labs inks its most high-profile banking partnership to date, the message is clear: the future of finance will not be built in opposition to traditional systems but in collaboration with them. With BNY Mellon on board, Ripple moves one step closer to making that vision a global reality.