- Meritz Securities, a leading South Korean brokerage, has signed a strategic partnership with Ripple to explore Ripple custody and tokenization for Korea’s capital markets.
- Meritz disclosed the agreement on October 7, 2026, and the signing took place at its Seoul headquarters.
- Korea’s tokenized-securities amendments are scheduled to take effect on February 4, 2027, which is why both firms are moving now.
- The deal is an exploratory review, not a product launch. Neither side has confirmed a product, customer segment, or settlement asset such as XRP, RLUSD, or XRPL.
- Meritz is also reviewing spot digital-asset ETFs, fractional investment products, STOs, digital-asset trading platforms, and won-denominated stablecoins.
Meritz Securities, one of South Korea’s leading brokerages, has signed a strategic partnership with Ripple to study how Ripple Custody and the company’s tokenization infrastructure could serve Korean capital markets. Meritz disclosed the agreement on October 7, 2026. The timing lines up with Korea’s tokenized-securities amendments, which are scheduled to take effect on February 4, 2027. The deal is an exploratory review, not a product launch.
🚨 JUST IN: South Korea doubles down on #Ripple with Meritz Securities partnership. 🇰🇷 https://t.co/sgcA4VDSfD
— RippleXity (@RippleXity) October 7, 2026
Signing Held At Meritz Headquarters In Seoul
The two firms formalized the agreement at Meritz’s headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. Meritz CEO Jang Won-jae and Ripple President Monica Long attended. Ripple is a blockchain-based payments and digital-asset infrastructure company, and Ripple Custody is its custody product for institutions.
Korea’s February 2027 Rules Set The Pace
Both companies say they want their infrastructure ready before the tokenized-securities rules take effect. They plan to work within existing securities regulations first and widen their cooperation as Korea’s digital-asset rules develop.
Fiona Murray, Ripple’s Asia-Pacific managing director, said Ripple would explore how its digital-asset infrastructure can support Korea’s capital markets.
Neither side has named a specific product, customer segment, or settlement asset. XRP, RLUSD, and the XRP Ledger (XRPL) have not been confirmed as part of the arrangement.
Meritz Is Already Reviewing A Broad Set Of Digital Asset Services
Meritz is assessing spot digital-asset ETFs, fractional investment products, security token offerings (STOs), digital-asset trading platforms, and won-denominated stablecoins. The Ripple agreement covers the custody and tokenization side of that work.
The deal also lands amid growing institutional tokenization activity in Korea. Securitize and LG CNS recently partnered on tokenized assets and stablecoins in the same market. SBI and Kyobo have also completed a direct Japan-Korea stablecoin transfer pilot, a cross-border use case that Ripple is already part of.
Custody-First Approach Mirrors Ripple’s Earlier Deals
The Meritz agreement follows a pattern Ripple has used elsewhere: start with custody, then add services as regulation allows. Ripple Custody has gone live at Garanti BBVA in Turkey, where it is paired with RLUSD rails. In South Africa, Absa CIB has rolled out bank-backed crypto custody powered by Ripple.
On the tokenization side, Ripple has partnered with SettleMint to support tokenization adoption in traditional finance. The company has also expanded its partnership with Brevan Howard to provide prime brokerage services.
XRP Volume Edges Past Bitcoin On Upbit
Around the time of the announcement, XRP briefly topped Bitcoin in 24-hour trading volume on Upbit, according to local reporting. XRP volume was roughly $111 million, against about $105 million for Bitcoin. The Meritz partnership itself does not specify any role for XRP.
Elsewhere in the XRP market, Paxos has rolled out XRP offerings for brokerage partners. Separately, the Nasdaq debut of Evernorth’s XRPN has been pushed to October 12 after an administrative delay.
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