Overview
- The firms publicly detailed the exploratory agreement on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, after signing the pact earlier in October at Meritz’s Yeouido headquarters.
- The work will evaluate Ripple Custody for institutional storage, transfer and settlement of digital assets and probe tokenization tools for products such as spot ETFs, fractional investments and security tokens.
- Neither Ripple nor Meritz committed to any product launches, timelines, financial terms, specific blockchain networks, or use of XRP or RLUSD in their announcement.
- This is Ripple’s first deal with a Korean securities firm and its fourth institutional tie in South Korea in 2026, following partnerships with Kyobo Life, Kbank and Jeonbuk Bank.
- Because South Korea’s amended security token rules take effect on February 4, 2027, the partners plan a staged approach that could affect how quickly retail clients see tokenized ETFs, trading platforms or won-denominated stablecoin settlement introduced.