Key Points:
- Ripple Custody now supports ETH and SOL staking via Figment, giving institutions access to yield without running validators.
- Figment’s non-custodial setup and certifications align with institutional controls and audit standards.
- XRP has no native staking; XRPL would require a structural economic change to support rewards.
Ripple has expanded its institutional custody offering to include staking for Ethereum and Solana, integrating Figment’s validator infrastructure into its safekeeping services. The move allows regulated clients to earn protocol rewards without operating their own validator nodes, a capability increasingly expected by banks, asset managers, and custodians managing proof-of-stake assets.
The addition matters now as staking has shifted from a niche activity to a standard component of institutional crypto operations.
Custody providers are under pressure to offer yield-bearing services while preserving strict controls around governance, auditability, and risk management. Ripple’s approach keeps staking within the custody stack, positioning it as an asset-servicing function rather than a standalone trading or yield product.
Institutional Staking Without Validator Exposure
Through the integration, Ripple Custody clients can stake ETH and SOL using Figment’s non-custodial validator infrastructure. Assets remain under institutional custody, while validator operations are managed externally, enabling clients to collect on-chain rewards within existing compliance and reporting frameworks.
This separation is central to the design. Large institutions typically require clear boundaries between asset ownership, infrastructure operation, and governance oversight. By delegating validator duties to Figment while retaining custody controls, Ripple aligns the service with procurement and risk standards common across regulated financial firms.
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Figment brings a track record tailored to institutional due diligence. The firm serves more than 1,000 clients and holds Node Operator Risk Standard (NORS) certification, which evaluates security, resilience, and governance practices. For custody committees and auditors, those signals reduce friction when approving staking as part of a broader asset-servicing mandate.
Operationally, the setup allows institutions to access yield without altering internal control structures or expanding technical exposure. That trade-off has become a deciding factor as staking rewards increasingly factor into portfolio returns.
XRP’s Role Remains Non-yielding
The rollout also underscores a structural distinction: Ripple’s XRP does not support native staking. The XRP Ledger relies on a consensus model in which validators are not paid staking rewards, and there is no active mechanism for introducing yield. While XRPL includes transaction fee burning, it lacks a protocol-level incentive system comparable to proof-of-stake networks.
As a result, Ripple’s custody platform can offer staking yields on Ethereum and Solana, but not on XRP itself. Ripple continues to frame XRPL as infrastructure for payments, tokenization, and compliant financial workflows rather than a yield-generating asset.
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