Ripple Adds Hyperliquid to Ripple Prime; XRP Falls Amid Broader Market Sell-Off
Ripple integrated decentralized derivatives exchange Hyperliquid into its institutional prime brokerage, Ripple Prime, enabling institutional clients to access on-chain perpetuals liquidity and cross-margin DeFi positions with other asset classes (XRP, RLUSD, FX, fixed income, OTC swaps) under a single risk and margin framework. U.S. clients will still see Ripple Prime as the sole counterparty. The move—called Ripple Prime’s first DeFi venue—follows Ripple’s acquisition of Hidden Road and the rebrand to Ripple Prime, which now serves over 300 institutional clients and claims over $3 trillion cleared across markets. Despite the institutional expansion, XRP slid about 16% in a single day to roughly $1.25 (CoinGecko), marking its weakest level since November 2024, as broader crypto markets fell (BTC down ~8.1%, ETH down ~6.9%). Ripple executives framed the integration as improving liquidity and efficiency for institutional DeFi access, but the announcement failed to support XRP price amid the wider market downturn.
Neutral
The news is structurally positive for institutional DeFi adoption: integrating Hyperliquid into Ripple Prime materially expands on-chain perpetuals access and cross-margining for institutional clients, and reinforces Ripple’s push into prime-brokerage services after acquiring Hidden Road. These are long-term bullish developments for institutional liquidity and product breadth. However, the market reaction—an immediate ~16% drop in XRP amid broader crypto weakness—shows limited short-term price support. The price decline appears driven primarily by a wider market sell-off (BTC and ETH also down materially), not the integration itself. Historically, product or partnership announcements that broaden institutional access (custody, prime services, exchange listings) improve long-term fundamentals but often do not prevent short-term volatility during market-wide downturns (e.g., past exchange listings or custody announcements that failed to stop macro-driven drops). For traders: expect continued volatility in the near term as macro sentiment and liquidations dominate; view the integration as a neutral-to-moderately bullish fundamental for XRP over months, potentially improving liquidity and institutional flow if broader market conditions stabilize. Key indicators to watch: BTC/ETH direction, institutional flow reports into Ripple Prime, on-chain volumes on Hyperliquid, and changes in XRP order book depth.