Virtu

Ripple Prime has opened perpetual swaps tied to over 100 real-world assets to institutional clients, with market-maker Virtu already trading, marking the first mainstream prime broker offering 24/7 settlement on equities, commodities and currencies via blockchain infrastructure. The move expands institutional access to assets traditionally confined to business-day trading windows and signals how custody and clearing are consolidating around digital-native platforms.

• Virtu and other institutions now trade RWA perpetual swaps across over 100 markets including equities, indices, ETFs, metals, energy and FX, all settled 24/7.
• Ripple Prime references prices from Trade.xyz perpetual futures listed on Hyperliquid, a decentralized derivatives venue, and acts as principal on every trade.
• Clients can use Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin as collateral and cross-margin positions across asset classes in a single account.

• 100+ Reference markets for RWA swaps across equities, commodities, currencies and indices
• October 15, 2026 Launch date for Ripple Prime RWA perpetual swap product
• $200 million Debt line extended by Neuberger Specialty Finance for Ripple Prime margin loans in May 2026

Ripple announced on October 15, 2026 that Ripple Prime has launched support for real-world asset (RWA) perpetual swaps, with institutional clients already trading across more than 100 reference markets spanning equities, equity indices, ETFs, metals, energy and foreign exchange. Trading and settlement occur 24/7, enabling positions to remain open when underlying spot exchanges close. According to the announcement, Ripple Prime acts as principal on every trade, referencing perpetual futures contracts listed by Trade.xyz on Hyperliquid, a decentralized derivatives venue. Institutions obtain liquidity through their Ripple Prime account and never connect to Hyperliquid directly, consolidating counterparty risk and collateral management.

Virtu expands into emerging liquidity pools via Ripple Prime cross-margining

Virtu Financial, the US market maker, is among the first institutional clients trading the RWA swaps through Ripple Prime. The product allows Virtu to manage exposures to equities, commodities and currencies outside traditional trading hours, trimming the need to post fresh collateral by offsetting positions across asset classes in a unified margin pool.

Virtu is ramping up across emerging liquidity pools, and Ripple Prime’s 24/7 cross-margining across asset classes helps us expand our presence more efficiently as markets move toward round-the-clock access.

Scotte Moegling, head of business development for digital assets at Virtu

Cross-margining, the ability to offset losses in one position against gains in another without posting additional collateral, has long been a tool for institutional traders in traditional derivatives markets.

Ripple Prime extends the feature to blended portfolios of digital and traditional assets, allowing clients to post Ripple USD (RLUSD), the company’s stablecoin, as collateral across all positions. This reduces locked-up capital and simplifies the operational load of managing multiple counterparties and margin accounts.

Hyperliquid price feeds bring weekend trading to stocks and commodities

The mechanics rest on a design choice that has institutional and regulatory implications. Ripple Prime does not execute trades on Hyperliquid directly; instead, it mirrors prices from Trade.xyz perpetual futures listed on the decentralized venue.

When the New York Stock Exchange closes Friday and does not reopen until Monday, swaps referencing listed stocks continue trading on Saturday and Sunday at prices derived from Hyperliquid’s order book. This gives clients continuous exposure to equities and commodities without requiring a regulated market infrastructure to be open.

Michael Higgins, International CEO of Ripple Prime, characterized the product as a bridge between traditional and digital finance. “Institutions want exposure to equities, commodities, and currencies with the round-the-clock access and efficiencies of digital infrastructure,” he said.

The arrangement furnishes a single counterparty relationship, centralized risk management and consolidated margin across portfolios, typical features of a prime broker, but with settlement and collateral on blockchain and pricing referencing a permissionless, decentralized exchange.

Product licensed only in BVI; expansion timeline and regulatory status remain open

The RWA swap product is currently available only under Ripple Prime’s CIV BVI (British Virgin Islands) license, with Ripple stating an intention to offer it from additional regions in the near future but providing no timeline.

Ripple Prime itself emerged from the company’s $1.25 billion acquisition of prime broker Hidden Road, which closed in October 2025. The unit added support for Hyperliquid in February 2026, enabling institutional clients to margin positions on the decentralized venue against other holdings held at Ripple Prime.

In May 2026, Neuberger Specialty Finance extended Ripple Prime a $200 million debt line earmarked for margin loans, signaling institutional confidence in the prime broker’s capital base. The unit has reportedly tripled revenue year over year since entering the US market.

Ripple said volumes in perpetual futures linked to real-world assets have exploded year to date but released no specific figures.

The CCS read. We see Ripple Prime consolidating flow that would historically have moved through separate venues, a traditional prime broker for equities and fx, a crypto desk for digital assets. Capital efficiency and 24/7 settlement are the hook. The open question is whether regulators beyond the BVI will permit cross-margining between regulated-market reference prices and a permissionless decentralized exchange, or whether Ripple will face compartmentalization requirements that undercut the efficiency thesis.

Ripple has signaled expansion to additional jurisdictions but named no target region or deadline. Watch for the first regulatory approval outside the BVI and whether Brevan Howard, which signed on as a Ripple client last week alongside the company’s co-investment in OKX’s $25 billion funding round, begins routing material RWA swap volume through the platform.