Ripple Prime launches RWA perpetual contracts for institutional clients, covering over 100 markets

BlockBeats news, October 15 — According to Bloomberg, Ripple's prime brokerage unit Ripple Prime is launching real-world asset (RWA) perpetual contracts for institutional clients, covering more than 100 reference markets including equities, indices, ETFs, and commodities. The product is offered through Trade.xyz on Hyperliquid, extending Ripple Prime's previous move to open crypto perpetual contract trading to clients.

This arrangement supports shared margin across positions. Michael Higgins, international CEO of Ripple Prime, said the move helps institutions improve capital efficiency and position management. Clients can pair perpetual contracts with underlying assets for basis trades, or use the contracts for directional trading to gain exposure to relevant assets during traditional market closures and on weekends.

Over the past year, open interest in RWA perpetual contracts across several major trading platforms has grown from near zero to $9 billion. Higgins also said traditional hedge funds are "very close" to directly participating in the tokenized RWA market, with the key being the establishment of infrastructure that meets their counterparty and anti-money laundering requirements.