Ripple Prime: institutional credit, clearing and cross-asset prime brokerage

Ripple Prime supplies credit intermediation, clearing and financing for institutions trading FX, digital assets, derivatives and fixed income. Its current offering connects sponsored access, direct market access and OTC execution with portfolio margin financing. Customers include hedge funds, asset managers, market makers, banks, broker-dealers and institutional treasuries. It is a non-bank prime broker rather than a retail account or exchange.[1]

Route 28 aggregates executable liquidity-provider quotes into a best bid and offer. Ripple’s February 2026 institutional-trading paper describes order-by-order competition between liquidity providers, rather than a single selected dealer supplying every execution. That paper also discusses proposed industry settlement conventions; its suggested T+1, 5 p.m. Eastern process is not a contractual settlement deadline for a particular Prime account.[9]

For listed US futures, the execution policy describes exchange-native, third-party and customers’ proprietary platforms. The US FCM does not ordinarily run a desk executing futures on clients’ behalf. A platform connection therefore needs to be distinguished from an agency execution mandate.[7]

Pricing is negotiated. The UK/Netherlands trading disclosure allows principal and matched-principal transactions to carry an all-in price containing fees, commission or markup. Quotes may differ between clients for substantially the same transaction, and the firm need not itemise those components. The reviewed public material supplies no complete fee grid, minimum account capital or standard financing rate.[6]

The Dutch digital-PB policy also permits collateral conversions between fiat and crypto-assets. Its trade-finality rules sit alongside credit, security, technology and exchange-rule controls that can restrict service access. A collateral conversion is therefore a transaction within the relationship, not evidence that every asset can collateralise every product.[8]

The onboarding portal collects the corporate structure, portfolio samples, risk profile, revenue, historical returns and capital structure needed for due diligence and credit assessment. The privacy notice says this assessment precedes offering and pricing services, with ongoing KYC/AML monitoring afterwards. A requested connection therefore depends on the credit relationship as well as technical setup. The notice describes encryption of portal data both at rest and in transit.[21]

The group’s continuity disclosure describes predominantly public-cloud infrastructure spanning multiple regions, using SaaS, PaaS and IaaS services. Internet access replaces a requirement for dedicated on-site infrastructure. The same disclosure says data is backed up continuously during the day; recovery depends on the risk and scope of the data, without a numerical recovery-time or recovery-point commitment.[20]

Account design remains important even where portfolio margin is available. The US FCM’s July 2026 disclosure says funds in different regulatory account classes cannot cover a deficiency merely because they have the same owner: funds must actually be transferred to the deficient account. Its exchange and clearinghouse memberships include the CME exchanges, Coinbase Derivatives, Nodal Clear and Bitnomial. These are specific US arrangements, separate from an OTC swap with another group company.[12]

Existing clients can raise complaints through their business-development representative or the published complaints mailbox. Dutch complaints may be in English or Dutch; a separate MiCA form is linked for the Dutch digital-assets business. UK ombudsman escalation depends on complainant and activity eligibility, so it should not be represented as a universal institutional-account protection.[22]

The June 2026 continuity plan warns that orders and requests for funds or securities can be delayed during disruption. Its published contacts are emergency alternatives when normal channels fail, not a promise of a fixed response or restoration time.[20]

The Dutch company’s 2025 IFR disclosure separately identifies CASP reference 41000008, effective from 30 December 2024, for exchanging crypto-assets for funds or other crypto-assets and executing client crypto orders. This is the company’s stated MiCAR scope; the independently inspected AFM investment-firm entry is a different permission record.[16]

The execution policy differentiates instruments, entities and client instructions. It says best execution normally does not apply where the client determines the transaction and does not place legitimate reliance on the firm. UK spot crypto and spot FX are treated differently from the Dutch crypto service and derivatives. This is a product-specific execution framework, not an assurance that principal intermediation is advisory or that every group transaction has identical duties.[7]

Ripple completed its acquisition of Hidden Road on 24 October 2025 and renamed the business Ripple Prime. The acquired institutional business already supplied prime brokerage, clearing and financing across FX, digital assets, derivatives and fixed income. Its acquisition announcement discussed further blockchain integration; those plans are distinct from services documented as live subsequently.[2]

Legal documents still use Hidden Road company names. Companies House identifies the UK operator as company 11705969 at 1 Angel Court, London. Brand adoption therefore did not make “Ripple” a single universal contracting company, and a reference to Hidden Road in current account documentation is not necessarily obsolete.[14]

In October 2026 Ripple announced an expanded prime-brokerage, clearing and financing agreement for Brevan Howard-managed funds. This provides a current example of the institutional client relationship the business serves; it does not establish an execution-quality ranking.[23]

Operator

Ripple group: regional Hidden Road Partners CIV companies, including UK Ltd, NL B.V. and US LLC

Service scope

Institutional credit intermediation, FX/digital prime brokerage, listed clearing, financing and regional synthetic products.

Customer types

Hedge funds; Asset managers; Market makers; Banks and broker-dealers; Institutional treasuries

Delivery

Hosted; Managed service

Pricing publication

Quote only

Platforms

Route 28

Integrations

Crossover execution infrastructure; Exchange-native and third-party futures platforms

Pricing scope

Negotiated financing and all-in principal prices; no complete public tariff or universal minimum capital established.

Implementation

Credit and business due diligence precede product pricing and account activation; execution and clearing arrangements depend on entity and product.

Support

Published client complaint channel and separate business-continuity email and telephone contacts.

Permissions and regulatory scope

Distinct US, UK, Dutch and BVI companies; the exact securities, investment and virtual-asset permission must match the selected account.

Provider metadata checked 20 Oct 2026Source 1Source 2Source 5Source 6Source 21Source 20Source 8Source 7Source 13Source 17Source 15Source 18Source 22

On 15 October 2026 Ripple announced live RWA perpetual swaps across more than 100 reference markets, including equities, indices, ETFs, metals, energy and FX. Prime acts as principal in swaps referencing Trade.xyz perpetual futures on Hyperliquid. The announcement places the service under its CIV BVI offering, with further regions planned. Trading and settlement are described as 24/7; RLUSD collateral availability varies by jurisdiction. These are derivative exposures, not ownership of the referenced stocks or commodities.[5]

The August 2026 Delta One announcement reports an upsized USD 275 million senior unsecured note placement after an earlier USD 200 million debt facility. Those dated company-reported funding events explain part of the financing expansion; they are not a client asset guarantee or a measure of the margin available to an individual account.[4]