Ripple said it deepened its relationship with brokerage firm TJM Investments, buying a minority stake that takes it further into the behind-the-scenes infrastructure that institutions use to trade and settle assets.

Ripple will support the trading and clearing operations of TJM, a U.S.-regulated broker-dealer, as part of the arrangement. The companies did not disclose financial terms.

The relationship builds on Ripple’s institutional platform, Ripple Prime, which provides trading, financing and collateral tools to hedge funds, asset managers and family offices. TJM plans to use the connection to offer digital asset trading to clients in the coming months.

Rather than running an exchange or pushing new tokens, Ripple has been positioning itself as a service provider for firms that already operate inside traditional financial rules.

That approach is gaining traction as volatility, regulation and past exchange failures have made institutions more cautious about where and how they trade crypto.

For large investors, the appeal is less about chasing returns and more about access to familiar market structures, regulated intermediaries and predictable settlement.

Deals like this reflect that shift, with crypto exposure increasingly flowing through brokers and prime-style platforms instead of offshore venues.

Ripple Prime has been building out over the past year, aiming to mirror traditional prime brokerage services with a service adapted for digital assets. The TJM investment reinforces that strategy, suggesting Ripple is betting on long-term institutional positioning rather than short-term trading hype.