Ripple-owned Metaco Builds New Solution for IBM, Onboards SC-Backed Zodia Custody

Metaco, a Ripple-owned company, has made more institutional inroads, working with IBM and onboarding Standard Chartered-backed Zodia Custody.

As the race for institutional adoption of crypto assets heats up, Ripple-owned Metaco has recently grabbed the headlines for securing big-name partnerships en route to expanding its offerings. On Tuesday, Metaco scored yet another win, revealing that it has collaborated with tech giant IBM to build a new offline crypto storage solution.

The new solution, called IBM Hyper Protect Offline Signing Orchestrator (OSO), is designed to simplify the process of interacting with digital assets held in cold storage. According to IBM, OSO eliminates the need for manual procedures while moving assets from cold storage.

The solution includes a “policy engine” that allows secure communication between the systems required to transfer crypto from cold storage.

In one instance, Metaco will implement the technology to allow its institutional clients to transfer assets from the Metaco Harmonize Cold Vault through the Metaco Harmonize Core, which receives transaction signing requests.

IBM describes the new solution built in collaboration with Metaco and other big banks as a major upgrade to existing air-gapped cold wallets sold by competitors. OSO would lower operational costs and reduce the risk of human error.

The partners will now seek to leverage their vast network to ensure OSO gains traction with the institutional digital asset realm. Metaco’s newest partner, Zodia Custody, would also evidently adopt the new solution.

Metaco Onboards Standard Chartered-Backed Zodia Custody

Preceding its IBM partnership, Metaco revealed this week that Zodia Custody has joined its global crypto storage network. Zodia Custody is a crypto custody provider backed by the venture arm of banking giant Standard Chartered.

Metaco’s crypto storage network links crypto custodians like Zodiac with other companies offering the same service even in a different region.

As a result, when an institutional client wants to store assets in a region where one custodian does not have regulatory permission, they can leverage a partner on the network to offer the needed service. Additionally, assets do not have to frequently move from cold storage, providing additional security and minimizing counterparty risk.

The storage network developed by Metaco for digital assets mirrors what is obtainable in the traditional financial landscape for banking partners. Extending this infrastructure to cryptocurrency allows institutions to engage comfortably with the new asset class.

Ripple Leverages Metaco to Onboard Institutions

As Metaco has alluded to recently, its success evidently rubs off on the parent company and its offerings, such as the XRP Ledger. In other words, Ripple has strategically positioned itself to get closer to institutions through its Metaco acquisition.

While Ripple focuses on offering global payment rails using XRP, Metaco provides institutional-grade crypto custody solutions and has recently attracted big partners, including BBVA and HSBC. These banking partnerships also offer an opportunity for Ripple to directly engage with and boost institutional adoption of its payment solution.