Ripple expands institutional tools with hardware security and staking support

Ripple released a statement dated Monday, February 9, outlining its collaboration with  Securosys, a Swiss-based cybersecurity company, and Figment, a leading staking infrastructure provider for proof-of-stake networks. This partnership played a key role in improving the XRP-focused firm’s institutional custody platform. 

In response to this announcement, analysts asserted that the San Francisco–based fintech company’s move will streamline banks’ and custodians’ efforts to provide custody services and staking without the complexity of managing their own validators or key management systems.

Moreover, following Ripple’s acquisition of Palisade, a French-regulated digital asset custody and wallet infrastructure provider, and the incorporation of Chainalysis compliance tools, these custody improvements empower regulated institutions to securely manage cryptographic keys using either on-site or cloud-based HSMs. 

Apart from this, they can also offer users the ability to stake on networks such as Ethereum and Solana, with integrated, real-time compliance checks.

Ripple seeks to solidify its position as a leader in the blockchain ecosystem

Regarding its recent improvements, Ripple decided to break down these enhancements for better understanding, stressing that these integrations streamline deployment and accelerate the launch of institutional custody services.

To stay competitive in the ecosystem and solidify its position as a leader, the blockchain infrastructure provider noted that it is strengthening its institutional infrastructure to support expansion beyond its core payments business into custody, treasury, and post-trade services for regulated businesses. 

At this point, it is worth noting that Ripple is a technology company and digital payment network designed to provide payment and custody solutions to financial institutions. In addition, the firm is responsible for issuing the XRP token and RLUSD, a US dollar-pegged stablecoin launched in late 2024.

Meanwhile, reports noted that Ripple’s recent update came just after the blockchain payments firm introduced a corporate treasury platform that can integrate traditional cash management systems with digital asset technology. 

On the other hand, analysts found that as proof-of-stake technology continues to evolve, several institutions have shown heightened interest in staking while the regulatory environment remains unpredictable.

Even so, Figment decided to improve its collaboration with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase in October last year. This move enabled clients of Coinbase Custody and Prime to stake various proof-of-stake assets alongside Ether. Furthermore, the new feature enabled institutional users to stake across multiple networks, including Solana, Sui, Aptos, and Avalanche, via Figment’s system. 

Several firms in the blockchain ecosystem implement updates to their operations 

As competition in the blockchain ecosystem intensified, Anchorage Digital, a leading regulated institutional crypto platform, confirmed the launch of staking support for the Hyperliquid ecosystem towards the end of last year. This move enabled HYPE staking alongside its existing custodial offerings.

Afterwards, the bank announced the availability of this service via Singapore-based Anchorage Digital Bank and its self-custody wallet Porto. For validator operations, it noted that Figment would manage them.

Meanwhile, despite staking providing institutions with a way to generate yield on proof-of-stake networks, sources revealed the emergence of new efforts to generate yield from BTC that do not rely on staking.

Following this announcement, Fireblocks, a leading enterprise-grade platform, announced earlier this month its intention to adopt the Stacks blockchain to expand institutional access to Bitcoin-based lending and yield products.