Ripple Links Up With $130 Billion Riyad Bank’s Innovation Arm Jeel
Ripple has signed a partnership with Jeel, the innovation and expertise arm of Riyad Bank, to discover blockchain purposes throughout cross-border funds, digital asset custody, and tokenization in Saudi Arabia. The collaboration positions Ripple inside a regulated testing surroundings because the Kingdom accelerates its Vision 2030 digital transformation agenda.
Ripple Expands In Saudi With Riyad Bank
Jeel announced the tie-up on X: “We are happy to announce in Jil our partnership with Ripple to discover superior purposes aimed toward enhancing the velocity and effectivity of funds. This partnership focuses on finding out use instances for the custody of digital property, alongside growing prototypes inside Jil’s regulatory sandbox, in help of the aims of Vision 2030.”
In a press release dated January 26, 2026, Jeel stated the partnership will consider how blockchain can enhance the “velocity, price effectivity, and transparency of cross-border funds,” whereas additionally exploring digital asset custody and tokenization use instances. The companies plan to develop proofs-of-concept inside Jeel’s sandbox to check Ripple’s applied sciences “in a managed, compliant surroundings,” with an emphasis on scalable and interoperable infrastructure for monetary providers throughout the Kingdom.
Jeel CEO George Harrak positioned the sandbox because the core mechanism for turning blockchain ideas into regulated experimentation. “This partnership with Ripple displays our technique of utilizing the Jeel Sandbox to responsibly discover next-generation monetary infrastructure,” Harrak stated. “By combining regulated experimentation with world blockchain experience, we’re constructing the foundations to guage scalable use instances that improve cross-border funds and digital asset capabilities consistent with the Kingdom’s long-term digital ambitions.”
Ripple’s Managing Director for the Middle East and Africa, Reece Merrick, described the work as an effort to combine enterprise blockchain into Saudi monetary structure, explicitly tying it to the Vision 2030 roadmap.
“Saudi Arabia’s visionary leadership has established the Kingdom as a forward-thinking world hub for digital transformation,” Merrick stated. “It is towards this progressive backdrop that Ripple has signed an MOU with Jeel to discover integrating safe, environment friendly blockchain options into the nationwide monetary structure. We are dedicated to demonstrating how Ripple’s enterprise-grade digital property expertise can unlock important efficiencies in areas like cross-border funds, aligning straight with Saudi Arabia’s objective of constructing a world-leading, aggressive fintech ecosystem.”
Merrick echoed that messaging in a separate put up, saying the companions will discover use instances spanning “cross-border funds, digital asset custody, and tokenization,” and including that he’s “excited to assist form the way forward for Saudi Arabia’s monetary infrastructure.”
For Jeel, the partnership is pitched as a step past standard fintech acceleration into “regulated blockchain experimentation,” extending its innovation mandate whereas supporting Riyad Bank’s ambitions to guage next-generation digital monetary providers. For Ripple, Jeel’s sandbox and institutional community provide a pathway into the Kingdom’s fast-growing fintech panorama, with the press launch noting that the association creates a venue to showcase Ripple’s infrastructure in a “extremely regulated and innovation-driven surroundings.”
At press time, XRP traded at $1.90.
