Absa has become Africa’s first bank to offer Bitcoin custody, with BTC making up the largest share of assets held through its institutional service.
Summary
- Bitcoin is the main asset held in Absa’s custody service, according to its digital assets head.
- The bank launched its institutional custody platform on Sep. 21 using technology from Ripple.
- Absa plans to serve more client groups and African markets, subject to regulatory approvals.
- U.S. banks have received regulatory clarification allowing crypto custody and related customer services.
Bloomberg reported on Oct. 2 that the Johannesburg-based lender is providing digital asset custody to institutional clients in South Africa, including asset managers, non-bank financial institutions and companies. The report identified Absa as the first bank on the continent to offer the service. Moneyweb Rob Downes, head of digital assets at Absa’s Corporate and Investment Banking division, said Bitcoin accounts for the largest part of the assets currently held.
Absa’s Bitcoin custody service starts with institutional clients
Describing the assets held through the platform, Downes told Bloomberg:
“Bitcoin is the predominant asset in custody.”
The executive said the bank is also working with customers on other crypto assets they want held in South Africa, according to the report. His comments place Bitcoin at the center of the current offering while identifying client demand as part of the bank’s work on additional assets.
Beyond its initial customer base, Downes said Absa expects to extend custody to other client groups in South Africa and is working to bring the service to other African countries where it operates. Bloomberg reported that expansion into those markets would depend on the required regulatory approvals.
Absa’s product documentation states that the offering provides institutions with controls over digital assets, transactions and internal approvals. The bank describes custody as a service for protecting the private keys used to authorize blockchain transactions, with its banking governance and compliance framework applied to the platform.
In its Oct. 2 coverage, Bitcoin Magazine said Absa had not immediately responded to a request for comment.
Ripple technology supports Absa’s custody controls
The Bitcoin custody reporting comes after the platform’s commercial launch. As crypto.news reported on Sep. 22, Absa’s Ripple-powered custody service went live on Sep. 21, almost a year after the companies announced their partnership.
In October 2025, Ripple announced Absa as its first major custody partner in Africa. The agreement covered technology for storing and managing digital assets, including cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets.
Explaining the system’s operation, Robyn Lawson, Absa CIB’s head of digital product for custody, said the bank combines Ripple’s software for sending transactions to blockchain networks with its own internal infrastructure. She identified security, governance, recovery and authorization controls as central parts of the design.
According to Lawson, keys and transaction authorizations are protected within secure hardware environments. She said the system derives private keys securely when needed rather than keeping permanently stored private keys, while cryptographic recovery processes and layered controls are designed to preserve access during disruptions.
For institutional customers, Lawson said losing access to keys can create operational, reputational and regulatory risks for both the business and its clients. She added that Absa would begin with core custody functions and develop further capabilities according to customer needs and changes in regulation.
South Africa recorded $36 billion in crypto activity
In its September 2025 regional research, Chainalysis placed South Africa second in Sub-Saharan Africa by crypto value received, at about $36 billion between July 2024 and June 2025. Nigeria led the region with $92.1 billion over the same period, according to the firm’s Geography of Cryptocurrency report.
Across Sub-Saharan Africa, Chainalysis reported more than $205 billion in on-chain value during those 12 months, an increase of roughly 52% from the previous year. The firm ranked the region third for growth, behind Asia-Pacific and Latin America.
Within South Africa, the research firm attributed a more institutional market to the country’s regulatory framework and hundreds of licensed virtual asset service providers. Chainalysis said large transactions included activity linked to trading strategies such as arbitrage, while financial institutions were developing custody and stablecoin products.
Bitcoin accounted for 74% of fiat purchases of crypto in South Africa in the report’s centralized-exchange dataset, according to Chainalysis. The firm noted that the purchase analysis excluded informal markets, over-the-counter activity, and other transactions outside the tracked exchanges.
In its adoption-index methodology, Chainalysis also added an institutional activity measure in 2025 covering centralized-service transfers above $1 million. The firm said the change was intended to capture participation by professional investors, hedge funds, custodians and other institutional users.
U.S. banks have established custody services and regulatory permissions
For U.S. institutions, bank-based crypto custody has an established precedent. BNY Mellon announced in October 2022 that its U.S. digital asset custody platform was live, allowing selected clients to hold and transfer Bitcoin and Ether.
BNY later expanded the assets and functions available through that platform. Coverage published on June 29 detailed its USDC minting and redemption services, alongside custody and transfers, giving institutional customers a route to convert dollars into Circle’s stablecoin and redeem it back into dollars.
Under U.S. banking rules, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency confirmed in March 2025 that crypto custody, certain stablecoin activities and permitted blockchain payment activities are allowed for national banks and federal savings associations. The agency also removed the requirement for those institutions to obtain supervisory non-objection before undertaking the activities covered by its earlier guidance.
In May 2025, the OCC clarified that banks may buy and sell assets held in custody at a customer’s direction. The regulator said banks may also outsource permitted crypto custody and execution activities, subject to appropriate management of third-party risks.
In Europe, Sep. 16 reporting detailed Deutsche Bank’s planned institutional crypto custody service for later in 2026. According to that report, the bank expects initial support for Bitcoin, Ether, USDC, EURC and EURAU, with the launch subject to regulatory completion, internal approvals, risk controls and customer onboarding requirements.