Ripple Prime brings Hyperliquid RWA perpetuals to institutional clients across 100 markets

Ripple has expanded its institutional prime brokerage platform to support perpetual swaps tied to traditional financial assets, allowing clients to trade exposure to more than 100 markets around the clock.

The new offering, announced Thursday, covers equities, stock indices, exchange traded funds, metals, energy and foreign exchange. Institutional trading firm Virtu is among the clients already using the service.

The swaps are offered through Ripple Prime, with contracts referencing perpetual futures listed by Trade.xyz on Hyperliquid. The structure gives institutions continuous exposure to traditional markets, including weekends, without requiring direct ownership of the underlying assets.

Ripple expands institutional access to Hyperliquid

Under the arrangement, Ripple Prime acts as the principal counterparty to clients trading RWA swaps linked to contracts listed by Trade.xyz, a decentralized trading platform built on Hyperliquid that offers perpetual futures tied to traditional assets.

Clients can also use Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin as collateral and cross margin their RWA positions against other asset classes supported by the prime brokerage platform.

This allows institutions to manage multiple exposures through a single counterparty relationship, with centralized risk management and consolidated margin requirements.

“Institutions want exposure to equities, commodities, and currencies with the round the clock access and efficiencies of digital infrastructure,” said Michael Higgins, international CEO of Ripple Prime.

Virtu is already participating in the offering. Scotte Moegling, the firm’s head of business development for digital assets, said Ripple Prime’s continuous cross margining capabilities would help it expand into emerging liquidity pools.

The service is currently available through Ripple Prime’s British Virgin Islands licensed entity, with plans to expand into additional jurisdictions.

Hyperliquid strengthens its role in traditional asset derivatives

The launch builds on Ripple Prime’s February integration with Hyperliquid, which initially brought decentralized derivatives liquidity into its institutional brokerage platform.

Since then, Hyperliquid has expanded its reach beyond crypto derivatives through Trade.xyz, offering perpetual futures tied to stocks, indices and commodities that trade continuously, including outside traditional exchange hours.

Unlike tokenized equities backed by actual shares, these perpetual contracts provide synthetic price exposure without ownership of the underlying securities.

The expansion comes as institutional interest in traditional asset derivatives on blockchain networks continues to grow. Open interest in RWA perpetuals across major trading platforms has reportedly reached approximately $9 billion, according to Bloomberg figures cited in subsequent coverage.

For Ripple, the launch also extends its strategy of connecting institutional finance with onchain markets. The company established Ripple Prime after completing its $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road in 2025, expanding its services across digital assets, traditional securities and derivatives.