Institutions want custody integrated with payments and settlement BCG says

A Boston Consulting Group report commissioned by Ripple argues that institutional custody decisions now center on governance, interoperability, and operational integration. Security is treated as a baseline requirement rather than a differentiator.

Key points

• Buyers evaluate policy controls, interoperability, and connectivity between custody and settlement, payments, and treasury systems.
• Custody is defined by how assets can be used, not only where keys are stored.
• BCG estimates that more than 30% of digital assets held outside centralized exchanges use institutional custody models. The figure comes from commissioned research and not a full-market wallet census.

Implications for stablecoins and tokenized securities

• Institutions may accept a technically secure wallet yet be unable to deploy assets if approval workflows, reporting, or compatibility with existing systems are missing.
• Operating models vary: some firms may run multiple custodians behind a shared orchestration layer, while others may select integrated services from a single provider.

Commercial context and industry takeaway

• Ripple sells custody infrastructure, so its framing reflects commercial interests.
• The competitive edge likely goes to custody models that enable conventional institutional controls while preserving blockchain settlement speed and finality.