Key Takeaways:
Ripple Prime launched a Delta One business Aug. 27, offering total return swaps across U.S. equities, indices and digital assets with over $1 billion backing.
"The launch of our Delta One business is an important development for Ripple Prime and a natural extension of the platform we've built," Noel Kimmel, president of Ripple Prime, said. "Clients can now access equities, FX, derivatives, fixed income, and digital asset prime brokerage, clearing, and financing all through a single counterparty."
The desk lets hedge funds, market makers, asset managers and ETF issuers execute total return swaps, capturing an asset's price moves and dividends without holding the underlying shares. Ripple Prime operates solely in clearing and financing flow, a conflict-free model it contrasts with incumbent desks that sit alongside market-making or proprietary trading. The unit closed an upsized $275 million private placement of senior unsecured notes this month, following a $200 million debt facility from funds managed by Neuberger Specialty Finance earlier this year.
The launch extends Ripple Prime's cross-margining system, which pools stock derivatives and crypto exposure under one counterparty available 24/7, into the equity derivatives market. It positions the firm, which also runs Ripple National Trust Bank, to compete with larger non-bank prime brokers as it bridges traditional finance and digital assets.
The expansion comes as XRP, the token underpinning Ripple's payments network, traded at $1.43, up about 5 percent over 24 hours, with spot XRP ETFs drawing $28.14 million in inflows Wednesday led by Bitwise, Franklin and Canary funds. XRP futures open interest rose almost 0.5 percent to $3.50 billion, CoinGlass data shows.
The Delta One launch pressures other crypto prime brokers to offer similar hybrid suites that combine equities and digital assets, while giving institutional clients a single counterparty for cross-margined exposure across asset classes. Ripple, founded in 2012, also issues the RLUSD stablecoin and the XRP cryptocurrency that underpin its payments, custody and liquidity products.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
