Ripple Prime revenue triples to $1.25B as firm builds Wall Street 2.0

Ripple Prime revenue tripled year-over-year after Ripple's $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road, as institutional demand for 24/7 blockchain-based settlement and collateral management accelerated.

"The current crypto winter is not a digital asset winter," Michael Higgins, international chief executive of Ripple Prime, said in an interview with Markets Media. "Markets are moving toward 24/7 access and need always-on, blockchain-powered infrastructure to make this happen. That's Wall Street 2.0, and Ripple Prime is leading the way."

The prime brokerage, which clears over $3 trillion annually across more than 300 institutional clients, secured a $200 million debt facility from Neuberger Specialty Finance to expand margin lending capacity. New integrations with EDX Markets, Coinbase Derivatives, Hyperliquid and Bullish in the second quarter broadened its multi-asset clearing across digital assets, foreign exchange, derivatives, swaps and fixed income.

Ripple Prime's growth signals a structural shift in institutional finance as traditional prime brokerage — limited to banking hours and legacy settlement rails — faces competition from blockchain-native platforms that can move collateral around the clock using regulated stablecoins such as RLUSD. The firm was shortlisted for four Hedge Week US Awards 2026 categories, including Prime Broker of the Year in Specialist Markets, Technology, and Start-up & Emerging Managers.

How RLUSD Powers 24/7 Collateral Management

Traditional prime brokerage forces institutions to post collateral exclusively during standard banking hours, requiring large capital buffers over weekends and holidays. Ripple Prime eliminates this friction through continuous, 24/7 collateral management using RLUSD, Ripple's dollar-backed stablecoin. Higgins said this approach can reduce a $12.5 million margin requirement to about $1 million through cross-margining across asset classes.

The firm's client base has expanded beyond crypto-native trading firms to include hedge funds, asset managers, pensions and endowments, supported by increasing regulatory clarity under the GENIUS Act and the pending CLARITY Act.

Legacy Banks Face Technology Gap

While incumbent Wall Street banks are expected to enter digital prime brokerage as regulatory frameworks crystallize, Higgins argued that legacy players face structural disadvantages. "The largest market makers in U.S. equities and foreign exchange are not banks anymore," he said.

Ripple Prime's unified technology stack applies the same operational workflow whether onboarding a digital asset venue, an FX liquidity pool or a traditional equities exchange, allowing faster integration of new trading venues compared with older banking systems. Short-term priorities include enabling tokenized money market funds as collateral and a Delta One equities business, while the long-term focus is on industry-wide standardization.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.