Ripple Prime has launched institutional swaps tied to more than 100 traditional-asset markets, giving clients access to exposures across major asset classes outside normal exchange hours, Ripple said Oct. 15. The swaps trade and settle around the clock, including weekends, and Virtu was already using the offering when Ripple announced it.
Reference markets span equities, equity indexes, exchange-traded funds, metals, energy and foreign exchange. Ripple Prime acts as principal on the swaps, which reference perpetual futures contracts listed by Trade.xyz on Hyperliquid.
Clients can cross-margin real-world-asset swap exposures against other asset classes supported by Ripple Prime and use Ripple USD (RLUSD) as collateral. Ripple said RLUSD availability may vary by jurisdiction.
The initial rollout is available through Ripple Prime’s CIV BVI license. Ripple said it intends to add other regions but did not set a date.
Ripple’s Hyperliquid integration dates to Feb. 4, 2026, when it enabled institutional clients to access onchain derivatives liquidity and cross-margin DeFi exposures with other Ripple Prime asset classes, the company said.
Ripple characterized year-to-date trading-volume growth in real-world-asset perpetual futures as “exponential,” without providing a figure. Michael Higgins, International CEO of Ripple Prime, said, “RWA swaps are where traditional and digital markets meet.”
Scotte Moegling, Virtu’s head of business development for digital assets, said the service “helps us expand our presence more efficiently.”
Bloomberg reported Oct. 15, citing data from Talos, that open interest in real-world-asset-linked perpetual contracts had grown from near zero to $9 billion over the previous year. That figure was reported by Bloomberg; Ripple did not include an open-interest figure in its announcement.
