Ripple Prime Connects Institutions to Hyperliquid’s 24/7 Markets Through Swaps

Ripple Prime has begun offering institutional clients swaps tied to more than 100 perpetual markets referencing traditional assets, extending its on-chain derivatives business to stocks, commodities and other non-crypto underlyings. The referenced contracts trade on Hyperliquid, with Trade.xyz providing the markets, while Ripple Prime acts as counterparty to the swaps.

The launch comes as perpetual contracts linked to traditional assets draw growing activity. Open interest across several major venues has risen from almost nothing to roughly $9 billion over the past year, according to Bloomberg. Ripple moved into the segment by acquiring multi-asset prime broker Hidden Road in February 2025 and renaming it Ripple Prime, a deal that gave the firm access to Hyperliquid for on-chain derivatives.

How the trades work

Institutions do not trade the Trade.xyz futures directly through this service. Instead they enter swaps with Ripple Prime, gaining exposure to price moves in traditional assets without owning them. Because the referenced futures trade around the clock, desks can manage positions outside conventional market hours, and the contracts carry no fixed expiry, so a position does not have to be rolled into a new contract.

Michael Higgins, Ripple Prime's international CEO, told Bloomberg that some clients pair a perpetual position with the underlying asset to trade the price difference, while others take a directional view, including outside regular market hours.

Collateral forms part of the offer. Ripple Prime says clients can cross-margin the new swaps against other supported positions, letting institutions active across asset classes manage collateral within an existing prime-brokerage relationship instead of maintaining separate pools for each venue. Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin can also be used as collateral where it is available. Virtu Financial is already trading the swaps; its digital-assets business development head, Scotte Moegling, said round-the-clock cross-margining helps the firm expand its activity in emerging liquidity pools.

Competition is building. Deribit, for instance, is rolling out more than 90 USDC-settled contracts spanning crypto and traditional assets. Ripple Prime's role differs: rather than listing the referenced futures, it wraps markets operated by Trade.xyz in a swap and collateral relationship.

The swaps are currently available through Ripple Prime's BVI-licensed business. Ripple intends to offer them from additional regions but has not announced where or when.