Absa, the Johannesburg-based banking group, has become the first bank on the African continent to offer regulated digital asset custody services, with Bitcoin accounting for the largest share of assets held on the newly launched institutional platform.
The service, which went live commercially on September 21 and was reported by Bloomberg on October 2, uses technology from Ripple. It initially supports Bitcoin (BTC), XRP Ledger (XRP), Ethereum (ETH), and USD Coin (USDC), providing safekeeping, administration, and transfer services to asset managers, non-bank financial institutions, and corporations in South Africa. Rob Downes, Absa’s head of digital assets for Corporate and Investment Banking, said Bitcoin is the predominant asset in custody, while the bank works with clients on additional crypto assets for the South African market.
Absa received regulatory approval before launch, and it plans to extend custody to other client groups in South Africa and into additional African markets, subject to regulatory approvals. The move comes as South Africa’s regulatory framework matures: the South African Reserve Bank tracked custody holdings of R25.3 billion, about $1.5 billion, by the end of 2024. Chainalysis estimated South Africa saw about $36 billion in crypto activity between July 2024 and June 2025, second in Sub-Saharan Africa behind Nigeria, and noted Bitcoin represented 74% of fiat crypto purchases in its centralized-exchange dataset.
The launch forms part of a wider bank-led custody trend. The U.S. SEC has proposed updated custody rules that could allow limited crypto self-custody and expand state trust company roles, while the OCC has clarified that national banks may provide crypto custody and execute customer-directed trades. Standard Chartered previously announced Hong Kong’s first institutional crypto custody service by a global systemically important bank, and BNY Mellon and Deutsche Bank have also expanded or planned digital asset custody offerings. Absa’s entry, however, marks a first for Africa and deepens institutional access across the continent.
