(SeaPRwire) –
By: Christian Pierce
Institutional traders have been stuck. They need exposure to stocks, commodities, and currencies around the clock. Traditional markets shut down at 5 p.m. and again on weekends. Crypto never sleeps. The gap between the two worlds has been a structural frustration for hedge funds for years. Ripple just bridged it.
Ripple Prime announced real-world asset perpetual swaps tied to Trade.xyz perpetual futures on Hyperliquid. The product covers more than 100 reference markets across equities, equity indices, ETFs, metals, energy, and foreign exchange. Trading and settlement run 24/7, including weekends. Clients can post Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin as collateral. The product is offered through Ripple Prime’s CIV BVI license. Market maker Virtu is already trading the swaps. Michael Higgins, Ripple Prime’s international CEO, described it as the convergence point of traditional finance and decentralized finance. Scotte Moegling, head of business development for digital assets at Virtu, cited cross-margining as the practical pull.
Open interest in RWA perpetual contracts reached $9 billion over the past year, according to Bloomberg. Trade.xyz is the largest HIP-3 deployer on Hyperliquid. Ripple Prime itself was built after Ripple completed its $1.25 billion acquisition of prime broker Hidden Road last year. The platform consolidates digital assets, foreign exchange, fixed income, derivatives, and swaps under one account. Ripple Prime added Hyperliquid support in February, which first gave institutional clients access to the decentralized derivatives venue with cross-asset margin. Earlier this year, Ripple also launched a Delta One business for total return swaps on U.S. stocks, indices, and crypto.
The commercial loop is straightforward. Institutions already held margin inside Ripple Prime from other positions. Adding RWA perp swaps means less new collateral, faster execution, and continuous exposure without market closures. The real question is not whether this works. It is who controls the flow next. Ripple Prime is laying claim to the institutional gateway between on-chain perpetuals and off-chain asset risk. Hidden Road gave the plumbing. Hyperliquid gave the execution layer. The $9 billion open interest is the proof of demand.
Author bio: Christian Pierce is a chief financial columnist and markets commentator with two decades of coverage spanning institutional prime brokerage, digital asset infrastructure, and cross-border derivatives regulation.