Absa has become the first bank in Africa to offer institutional digital asset custody, with Bitcoin currently making up the largest share of assets held through the service.
The Johannesburg-based bank launched its institutional custody platform on Sept. 21. The service is currently available to institutional clients in South Africa, including asset managers, non-bank financial institutions and companies.
Rob Downes, Absa’s head of digital assets, said Bitcoin is the main asset currently held through the custody platform. The bank is also working with customers who want to hold other crypto assets in South Africa.
Absa plans to expand the service to additional types of clients and other African countries where it operates. Any expansion will depend on regulatory approvals in each market.
The bank’s custody platform gives institutions tools to manage digital assets, transactions and internal approvals. It also provides protection for the private keys needed to authorize blockchain transactions.
Absa launched the service using technology from Ripple. The two companies announced their custody partnership in October 2025, with Ripple providing technology for storing and managing cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets.
Absa combines Ripple’s blockchain transaction software with its own internal banking systems and controls. The bank says security, governance, recovery and authorization are key parts of the platform.
The custody system uses secure hardware environments to protect keys and transaction approvals. Absa says its design also includes recovery processes and multiple security controls to help institutions maintain access to their assets during disruptions.
The bank initially plans to focus on core custody services and add more features based on customer demand and changes in regulation.
The launch comes as crypto activity continues to grow in South Africa. Chainalysis estimated that South Africa received around $36 billion in crypto value between July 2024 and June 2025, making it the second-largest market in Sub-Saharan Africa behind Nigeria.
Across the region, Chainalysis recorded more than $205 billion in onchain crypto activity during the same period, representing growth of around 52% from the previous year.
Bitcoin also accounted for 74% of fiat purchases of crypto in South Africa in Chainalysis’ centralized-exchange data. The figure did not include informal markets, over-the-counter activity or transactions outside the exchanges tracked by the research firm.
Institutional participation has also become a larger part of the region’s crypto market, with professional investors, hedge funds and other large participants contributing to higher-value transactions.
Absa’s move follows the development of institutional crypto custody services in other major financial markets.
In the United States, BNY Mellon launched a digital asset custody platform in 2022 that allowed selected clients to hold and transfer Bitcoin and Ether.
U.S. regulators have also provided clearer guidance around bank involvement in digital assets. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency confirmed in 2025 that national banks and federal savings associations can provide certain crypto custody, stablecoin and blockchain payment services under existing rules.
The OCC later clarified that banks can also buy and sell assets held in custody when acting on a customer’s instructions, subject to applicable requirements.
In Europe, Deutsche Bank has also been preparing an institutional crypto custody service, with plans to support assets including Bitcoin, Ether and several stablecoins, subject to regulatory and internal approvals.
For Absa, the current focus remains on institutional custody in South Africa. The bank’s longer-term plans include expanding the service to more customers and other African markets as regulatory conditions allow.
