Quick Breakdown
- Garanti BBVA Kripto renews custody pact with Ripple to safeguard BTC, ETH, XRP using Metaco tech and IBM LinuxONE security.
- Deal scales from 14,000 early users in 2024 to mass adoption, boosting compliant crypto services in Turkey’s volatile economy.
- Builds on decade-long BBVA-Ripple ties, including 2017 DLT pilots and 2023 Metaco acquisition.
Garanti BBVA Kripto, the digital asset arm of Turkey’s second-largest private bank, has renewed its custody partnership with Ripple. The extension secures Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and XRP with Ripple’s institutional-grade technology combined with IBM’s LinuxONE hardware security modules. Ripple Managing Director Reece Merrick called it a “massive vote of confidence” in their shared vision for compliant digital asset infrastructure. This move comes as Turkey’s high-inflation environment drives crypto adoption, with the platform now expanding beyond its initial 14,000 users launched in late 2024.
Our Turkish partner @garantibbvakrp (crypto subsidiary of @GarantiBBVA) is extending its custody relationship with @Ripple
They’ll continue to leverage our custody technology to offer their millions of retail customers secure transfers and storage for major crypto assets like…
— Reece Merrick (@reece_merrick) January 23, 2026
Decades of collaboration pays off
The BBVA group’s relationship with Ripple spans nearly ten years, starting with a 2017 real-money international transfer using Ripple’s distributed ledger technology, the first for a Tier-1 European bank. In 2021, BBVA Switzerland rolled out Bitcoin trading and custody via Metaco, which Ripple acquired in 2023.
Garanti BBVA launched its kripto subsidiary in 2023 to tap Turkey’s booming crypto scene, formalizing the Ripple-IBM trio in October 2024 for key management and governance. By September 2025, BBVA Spain will have integrated Ripple Custody, extending the tech globally. This history underscores Ripple’s role in bridging traditional finance with blockchain.
Institutional custody gains traction.
Turkey’s crypto market thrives amid economic pressures, making secure storage vital for retail and institutional users. The partnership emphasizes regulatory compliance through encrypted, isolated environments and hardware security, aligning with global standards such as the EU’s MiCA. Ripple holds over 60 licenses worldwide, positioning it to support banks as they scale digital assets.
As on-chain revenue hits nearly $20B across DeFi and wallets, such integrations signal maturing infrastructure beyond speculation. Garanti BBVA plans to diversify its assets and enhance services, leveraging this tech to enable eco-friendly, high-performance operations. Garanti BBVA’s renewed custody deal highlights Ripple’s institutional traction, which is further bolstered by the Binance listing of its rLUSD stablecoin, expanding multichain access for payments, DeFi, and a compliant global on-chain economy.
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