Ripple Prime Adds Support for Hyperliquid, Providing Wall Street Access to DeFi

Ripple has added support for Hyperliquid, marking the first DeFi integration on its multi-asset prime brokerage platform. This comes as the crypto firm seeks to integrate decentralized finance (DeFi) with traditional prime brokerage services, a move that will give Wall Street access to on-chain liquidity.

Ripple Prime Adds Hyperliquid as First DeFi Venue

In a press release, the crypto firm announced it has extended its multi-asset prime brokerage platform to include Hyperliquid, its first DeFi integration. It further noted that the DeFi integration will enable institutional clients to access on-chain derivatives liquidity while cross-margining DeFi exposures with all other asset classes that its prime brokerage platform supports.

Ripple also stated that adding support for Hyperliquid advances its mission to bridge traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized markets by offering institutions access to DeFi venues within a “unified, capital-efficient prime brokerage framework.” The firm’s clients will notably be able to access Hyperliquid liquidity while benefiting from a “single counterparty relationship, centralized risk management, and consolidated margin across their entire portfolio.”

Commenting on this development, Ripple Prime CEO Michael Higgins said the strategic extension of their prime brokerage platform into DeFi will enhance clients’ access to liquidity, thereby driving greater efficiency and innovation. “As institutional participation in DeFi accelerates, Ripple Prime aims to provide clients with scalable access to next-generation trading infrastructure while preserving the controls and capital efficiency expected of a global prime broker,” the crypto firm also stated.

Ripple had acquired Hidden Road last year for $1.25 billion and renamed the prime brokerage firm as ‘Ripple Prime’ following the completion of the acquisition. XRP and the RLUSD stablecoin also continue to play a major role in these prime brokerage offerings, as the firm has noted on several occasions.

Meanwhile, the firm continues to expand its services and recently secured a full EU-Wide electronic money institution license from Luxembourg. This enables Ripple to now operate regulated digital payment services across the European Union.

Why This Move Is Significant

In an X post, XRP Ledger (XRPL) developer Bird explained why this move is significant, describing Ripple Prime as a secure, all-in-one financial dashboard for institutional players while  the top DEX Hyperliquid is the “super fast on-chain trading engine.”

He added that this announcement means that institutions can now trade advanced crypto products on-chain without dealing with multiple platforms or extra risk, as the crypto firm provides a trusted system. It is worth noting that Hyperliquid, through the HIP-3 upgrade, now offers customized perpetuals for stocks and commodities.

The XRPL developer noted that these institutions will be able to use their existing assets, including commodities, as collateral across all markets in one place. “In plain English, Ripple just made onchain markets usable for serious money >> and that’s how real liquidity quietly enters crypto,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, market commentator The Milk Road stated that both XRP and HYPE will benefit from this move. For XRP, The Milk Road stated that the integration will unlock institutional trading of XRP perpetuals and potentially spot pairs in addition to cross-margining with XRP exposures alongside other assets. They also stated that HYPE will benefit as Ripple’s move could increase the trading volume on Hyperliquid, which would lead to more fees and consequently more buybacks of the HYPE token.