Ripple has secured the first European banking customer for its licensed payments stack, with Switzerland-based AMINA Bank adopting Ripple Payments to support near-real-time cross-border transfers for cryptocurrency-native customers, according to a release from the company on Friday.
AMINA, a FINMA-regulated digital asset bank, will use Ripple’s payments infrastructure to connect traditional banking rails with blockchain-based settlements, a long-term operational challenge for institutions serving stablecoin issuers, cryptocurrency companies and tokenized asset platforms.
The move marks a shift in the way regulated banks treat crypto payments as an integrated line of business—an infrastructure that requires working directly with fiat systems.
Ripple Payments is an end-to-end platform that combines messaging, liquidity sourcing and settlement on fiat currencies and blockchain rails.
Unlike correspondent banking networks that rely on multiple intermediaries and batch settlements, Ripple’s system allows banks to transfer value directly, often settling transactions within minutes.
In practical terms, this means AMINA can handle cross-border flows involving fiat currencies and stablecoins (including Ripple’s own RLUSD) without having to route payments through multiple correspondent banks or rely on delayed settlement cycles.
A key difference is that Ripple Payments is licensed in multiple jurisdictions, allowing banks to integrate blockchain settlements without exceeding regulatory frameworks.
For AMINA, this provides a compliant way to serve customers who operate natively on-chain but still need to access traditional banking services such as treasury management and fiat liquidity.
Earlier this year, AMINA became the first bank in the world to support Ripple’s USD stablecoin RLUSD by providing custody and trading services. Payment integration extends this relationship from asset support to transaction execution.
In fact, AMINA is using Ripple’s infrastructure as a connection layer between regulated banking systems and on-chain settlements, a model increasingly favored by institutions exploring tokenized assets, stablecoin issuance and cross-border funding operations.
The partnership is likely to strengthen Ripple’s position in Europe at a time when regulatory clarity is driving banks from experimental to production-grade blockchain use cases.
The company said in a press release that its payments network currently covers more than 90% of global foreign exchange market trading volume and handles more than $95 billion in transactions.
