Key Takeaways
- • Research commissioned by Ripple and conducted by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) models up to $100 million in added profit-and-loss for a mid-sized regional bank with a $200 billion to $300 billion balance sheet, from well-chosen digital asset custody and services (some summaries cite an $80-100 million range).
- • Collateral mobility is the largest single contributor to the modeled uplift, alongside crypto brokerage fees, tokenized money-market fund servicing, lower-cost cross-border payments, and secured lending against digital assets.
- • BCG frames custody as strategic "operating layer" infrastructure rather than passive safekeeping, with model and provider choice shaping which services a bank can offer and how fast it can launch them.
- • More than 30 percent of digital assets held outside centralized exchanges are now managed through institutional custody, with MiCA and the GENIUS Act supporting growth.
- • BCG expects consolidation among custody providers offering vertical integration, network connectivity, or modular infrastructure embedded in core banking systems.
Summary
A research report commissioned by Ripple and conducted by Boston Consulting Group concludes that carefully selected digital asset services and custody arrangements could lift the financial performance of a mid-sized regional bank by as much as $100 million. The analysis, titled "Beyond Safekeeping: Custody as the Operating Layer Beneath Digital Finance," focuses on institutions with balance sheets between $200 billion and $300 billion and treats custody as foundational infrastructure enabling payments, lending, collateral management, and tokenized asset activity rather than a simple storage function.
According to the report, more than 30 percent of digital assets held outside centralized exchanges are now managed through institutional custody models, a share that continues to grow as regulatory frameworks such as Europe's MiCA and the United States' GENIUS Act provide greater clarity. Basic security and key management are increasingly treated as minimum requirements, so institutions are evaluating providers on governance controls, interoperability across networks, and integration with existing core banking systems. Rising automated and artificial intelligence activity also raises the importance of policy and approval mechanisms alongside cryptographic protections.
BCG identifies several operating models: wallet-as-a-service offerings popular among payments-oriented fintechs, licensed self-custody technology that larger banks are integrating into client products, and integrated platforms combining custody with settlement assets, payment rails, treasury tools, and execution services. Multi-custodian arrangements coordinated through a common control layer are also emerging as a practical standard. The modeled uplift of up to $100 million for the illustrative bank derives from pairing custody choices with use cases including more efficient collateral mobility, crypto brokerage fees, tokenized money-market fund servicing, lower-cost cross-border payments, and secured lending against digital assets. Collateral mobility is the largest single contributor in available breakdowns.
The figures are modeled opportunities rather than guaranteed outcomes for any institution. BCG expects consolidation in the custody market around providers offering vertical integration, network connectivity, or modular infrastructure that embeds into core systems. As tokenized assets, stablecoins, and blockchain-based payments move from pilots into production, the report suggests institutions treating custody as enabling infrastructure may capture new fee streams and efficiency gains, while those that do not risk falling behind in digital finance capabilities.
According to the report, more than 30 percent of digital assets held outside centralized exchanges are now managed through institutional custody models, a share that continues to grow as regulatory frameworks such as Europe's MiCA and the United States' GENIUS Act provide greater clarity. Basic security and key management are increasingly treated as minimum requirements, so institutions are evaluating providers on governance controls, interoperability across networks, and integration with existing core banking systems. Rising automated and artificial intelligence activity also raises the importance of policy and approval mechanisms alongside cryptographic protections.
BCG identifies several operating models: wallet-as-a-service offerings popular among payments-oriented fintechs, licensed self-custody technology that larger banks are integrating into client products, and integrated platforms combining custody with settlement assets, payment rails, treasury tools, and execution services. Multi-custodian arrangements coordinated through a common control layer are also emerging as a practical standard. The modeled uplift of up to $100 million for the illustrative bank derives from pairing custody choices with use cases including more efficient collateral mobility, crypto brokerage fees, tokenized money-market fund servicing, lower-cost cross-border payments, and secured lending against digital assets. Collateral mobility is the largest single contributor in available breakdowns.
The figures are modeled opportunities rather than guaranteed outcomes for any institution. BCG expects consolidation in the custody market around providers offering vertical integration, network connectivity, or modular infrastructure that embeds into core systems. As tokenized assets, stablecoins, and blockchain-based payments move from pilots into production, the report suggests institutions treating custody as enabling infrastructure may capture new fee streams and efficiency gains, while those that do not risk falling behind in digital finance capabilities.
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