Ripple Prime Integrates Hyperliquid To Bridge DeFi Liquidity With Institutional Prime Brokerage

Ripple Prime has taken a major step toward unifying decentralized finance and traditional institutional trading by integrating the decentralized derivatives exchange Hyperliquid into its prime brokerage platform.

The move gives institutional clients direct access to on-chain derivatives liquidity while allowing them to manage risk, margin, and exposures across both DeFi and traditional markets under one consolidated framework.

With support now live for Hyperliquid’s $HYPE-powered ecosystem, Ripple Prime continues to expand its reach across digital assets, FX, fixed income, OTC swaps, and cleared derivatives, all while maintaining a single counterparty relationship for clients. The integration reflects a growing shift among institutions seeking DeFi opportunities without sacrificing the operational structure and risk controls of traditional finance.

The Integration That Connects DeFi With Prime Brokerage

Ripple Prime’s integration of Hyperliquid marks the first time the institutional platform has directly supported a decentralized finance venue. Through this connection, clients can now trade Hyperliquid’s on-chain derivatives markets while cross-margining those positions alongside exposures from centralized crypto exchanges and traditional asset classes.

Rather than interacting directly with the DeFi protocol, institutions continue to face Ripple Prime as their sole counterparty. Ripple Prime intermediates access to Hyperliquid’s liquidity while consolidating risk management, margining, and reporting under one unified structure.

This approach mirrors the operational simplicity of traditional prime brokerage while unlocking the speed, transparency, and liquidity depth that DeFi platforms increasingly offer.

Ripple confirmed the milestone in a public update highlighting its push into on-chain markets, which can be seen in this official announcement shared on X:

Institutional Clients Gain Cross-Margin Access To On-Chain Derivatives

One of the most significant advantages of the Hyperliquid integration is the ability to cross-margin DeFi positions with all other asset classes supported by Ripple Prime. This includes:

•  Digital assets and centralized crypto exchanges
•  Foreign exchange markets
•  Fixed income products
•  OTC swaps and cleared derivatives

Instead of managing fragmented collateral across multiple venues, clients can now maintain consolidated margin across their entire portfolio. This improves capital efficiency, reduces operational complexity, and enhances real-time risk oversight.

At the same time, institutions gain direct exposure to Hyperliquid’s rapidly growing on-chain derivatives liquidity, a segment that has seen increasing volume as traders seek faster settlement and transparent market mechanics.

Market commentators quickly noted the significance of the move, pointing to how it opens DeFi markets to larger players through institutional-grade infrastructure, as highlighted in this industry reaction:

Ripple Prime Positions Itself As A DeFi Gateway For Institutions

The Hyperliquid support aligns with Ripple Prime’s broader strategy of becoming a bridge between traditional finance and decentralized markets. Rather than forcing institutions to choose between centralized and decentralized venues, the platform aims to unify them within a single risk-managed ecosystem.

According to a Ripple Prime spokesperson, clients can now manage Hyperliquid exposures alongside traditional markets such as FX and fixed income, with Ripple Prime handling counterparty relationships, settlement processes, and margining.

This structure appeals to institutional firms that want DeFi access but require:

•  Centralized compliance and reporting
•  Portfolio-level risk controls
•  Operational efficiency
•  Institutional-grade counterparty protection

By embedding DeFi liquidity into a prime brokerage framework, Ripple Prime is effectively lowering the barrier for institutional capital to flow into on-chain markets.

Michael Higgins Highlights The DeFi Expansion Strategy

Michael Higgins, International CEO at Ripple Prime, emphasized the strategic importance of merging decentralized finance with traditional prime brokerage services.

“At Ripple Prime, we are excited to continue leading the way in merging decentralized finance with traditional prime brokerage services, offering direct support to trading, yield generation and a wider range of digital assets,” Higgins said.

He added that expanding into DeFi markets is designed to broaden client access to liquidity while improving efficiency across digital asset trading.

The integration with Hyperliquid is expected to be just the beginning, as Ripple Prime plans to continue onboarding both centralized and decentralized liquidity venues in response to rising institutional demand for on-chain exposure.

The Hidden Road Acquisition That Built Ripple Prime

Ripple Prime was formed following Ripple’s $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road, a multi-asset, non-bank prime broker known for servicing institutional trading firms across traditional and digital markets.

The acquisition was:

•  Announced in April 2025
•  Completed in October 2025
•  Followed by a full rebrand into Ripple Prime

Since the transaction, Ripple Prime has rapidly expanded its institutional footprint. The platform now serves more than 300 institutional clients and clears over $3 trillion annually across global markets, according to Ripple’s website.

Ripple also revealed in October 2025 that the prime brokerage business had grown threefold since the acquisition announcement, signaling strong institutional demand for its multi-asset clearing and financing services.

Today, Ripple Prime offers:

•  Clearing and financing across FX and fixed income
•  Digital asset prime brokerage
•  Derivatives and swaps infrastructure
•  Integrated use of XRP and Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin across parts of its offering

The Hyperliquid integration builds directly on this foundation by adding decentralized derivatives liquidity into the same institutional ecosystem.

A Broader Shift Toward Institutional DeFi Participation

Ripple Prime’s move reflects a broader trend across global finance: institutions increasingly want exposure to decentralized markets, but through familiar structures that mirror traditional trading environments.

DeFi platforms like Hyperliquid offer:

•  On-chain transparency
•  Continuous liquidity
•  Rapid settlement
•  Permissionless market access

However, many institutions still require centralized risk management, consolidated margining, and regulatory-grade reporting, features typically absent in native DeFi workflows.

By embedding Hyperliquid within a prime brokerage framework, Ripple Prime effectively solves this friction point, allowing institutions to benefit from DeFi liquidity without operational complexity.

Ripple has confirmed that it plans to continue expanding support across both centralized and decentralized venues as institutional activity in on-chain markets accelerates.

The Future Of Prime Brokerage Meets On-Chain Markets

The integration of Hyperliquid into Ripple Prime represents a major milestone in the convergence of DeFi and institutional finance. It signals that decentralized markets are no longer operating on the fringes of global trading, but are becoming core liquidity sources within institutional portfolios.

With consolidated margining, single counterparty exposure, and direct on-chain derivatives access now available through Ripple Prime, the platform is positioning itself as a central gateway for institutional capital flowing into DeFi.

As demand for transparent, high-speed, and capital-efficient markets grows, integrations like this may define the next phase of digital asset infrastructure, where decentralized liquidity and traditional financial systems operate seamlessly together.

With $XRP and $RLUSD embedded across Ripple Prime’s ecosystem and DeFi access expanding, Ripple continues to push toward a future where institutional trading no longer draws a line between on-chain and off-chain markets, but connects them under one unified financial framework.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

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