Key takeaways:
- Standard Custody & Trust Company, a US-based provider of digital asset custody, has been acquired by Ripple.
- Ripple has maintained BitLicense as a limited-purpose trust corporation via XRP II, a subsidiary.
Standard Custody & Trust Company, a US-based provider of digital asset custody, has been acquired by Ripple. Through its leadership, the corporation was already connected to Ripple.
Standard Custody & Trust Company is a certified custodian in compliance with federal law and provides custody and escrow services under a charter issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services. In a release, Ripple stated:
“Standard Custody’s limited purpose trust charter and its money transmitter licenses will contribute to Ripple’s growing portfolio of regulatory licenses,”
In addition to running a payment network, Ripple backs the XRP cryptocurrency. According to the company, Ripple already has around 40 money transmitter licenses in American states in addition to its BitLicense from New York.
Since 2016, Ripple has maintained BitLicense as a limited-purpose trust corporation via XRP II, a subsidiary. XRP II is the name of a legal company controlled by Ripple, according to chief technology officer and cryptographer David Schwartz of Ripple.
It works similarly to how Apple has companies authorized to process Apple Pay, so not all of Apple needs to be subject to that regulation.
The Standard Custody & Trust acquisition’s terms were not disclosed to the public. It happened one day after Metaco CEO Adrien Trecanni’s departure was made public, although it’s unclear when Trecanni left. Switzerland-based blockchain custody company Metaco was purchased by Ripple in May for $250 million.
Arthur Britto, a co-founder of Ripple and current president of PolySign, developed the digital asset infrastructure business PolySign, which includes SCT as a subsidiary. Britto keeps a limited public profile that verges on the enigmatic.
Along with Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb, he co-founded OpenCoin, the precursor to Ripple, in 2012. The XRP Ledger protocol is ascribed to him as co-designer as well. Britto is a game designer, according to Schwartz, who is also a member of the PolySign board.
In December 2020, the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued Ripple and its CEOs, Brad Garlinghouse and Larsen, alleging that the company sold unregistered securities via XRP coins.
When a judge decided in a summary judgment that XRP was only a security when offered to investors, Ripple won a big win. The SEC proceeded to drop its charges against Larsen and Garlinghouse while keeping up its legal action against Ripple.
In October, Ripple obtained a license as a significant payment institution from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and in December, the Central Bank of Ireland registered Ripple as a virtual asset service provider.
