Ripple has expanded its institutional prime brokerage platform, Ripple Prime, by integrating the decentralized derivatives protocol Hyperliquid. The integration, confirmed on February 4, 2026, provides global institutional clients with direct access to on-chain derivatives liquidity while utilizing familiar risk controls and a unified margining system.
The update connects a decentralized trading venue with a platform already used by institutional clients for digital assets, foreign exchange, fixed income, OTC swaps, and cleared derivatives. This allows firms to manage DeFi exposure within the same operational framework they use for traditional assets. A key feature is cross-margining across multiple asset classes, which reduces capital requirements and simplifies exposure tracking by consolidating all positions into a single structure.
Michael Higgins, International CEO of Ripple Prime, stated, "This strategic extension of our prime brokerage platform into DeFi will enhance our clients’ access to liquidity." He emphasized that institutions are seeking efficient and unified systems. The platform is designed to let institutions interact with decentralized markets while maintaining the centralized oversight tools and counterparty structures they are accustomed to, thereby lowering the barrier to DeFi entry.
Ripple, founded in 2012, stated this move aligns with its goal of partnering with leading liquidity venues across both centralized and decentralized ecosystems. Hyperliquid, described as a fast decentralized trading platform, offers the on-chain liquidity and execution speed required to handle institutional trading volumes. Ripple's services utilize XRP and the RLUSD stablecoin to facilitate global value movement.
