In a notable advancement bridging centralized institutional services and decentralized finance, Ripple has brought Hyperliquid’s decentralized derivatives platform onto its Ripple Prime institutional prime brokerage platform. This integration, announced via press release on Wednesday, represents Ripple’s initial direct support of a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, signaling an expansion of its service ecosystem.
Ripple Prime operates as an intermediary counterparty between institutional clients and the varied trading venues they access. By integrating Hyperliquid, clients gain the ability to directly engage with Hyperliquid's on-chain derivatives markets. This allows for seamless management of positions within decentralized markets alongside traditional financial instruments such as foreign exchange and fixed income products—consolidating risk, margin, and position oversight under a singular framework rather than managing disparate platforms individually.
Michael Higgins, CEO of Ripple Prime International, emphasized the strategic significance of the integration. According to Higgins, the move substantially enhances the liquidity accessible to Ripple’s institutional clients and streamlines operational efficiency when trading across multiple asset classes.
Hyperliquid has swiftly emerged as a dominant force within the decentralized perpetual contracts market, boasting over $5 billion in open interest and an impressive $200 billion in monthly trading volume as of mid-January. The platform’s recent diversification includes expansion into tokenized commodity derivatives, notably silver futures. This product extension has contributed to HYPE token’s relative outperformance amidst the broader cryptocurrency market downturn. Looking ahead, Hyperliquid is considering further broadening its offerings into prediction markets, signaling ongoing innovation.
Ripple Prime itself was established following Ripple’s acquisition of Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, a deal announced in April 2025 and finalized in October 2025. Since then, Ripple Prime has scaled rapidly, currently serving more than 300 institutional clients and facilitating clearing volumes exceeding $3 trillion annually. The platform consolidates a suite of services including clearing, prime brokerage, and financing tools across various asset types. Notably, Ripple has embedded its own digital assets into the platform’s ecosystem, integrating XRP and the RLUSD stablecoin to support transactional and settlement processes.
On the market front, the digital asset HYPE saw a 4% price increase on Wednesday, breaking above a descending trendline that had pressured its price since October. The token’s price surpassed the 200-day exponential moving average near $32.86, suggesting a potential reversal of the prior downtrend. Momentum remains robust with an RSI of 65.29, implying healthy buyer interest without reaching overbought conditions. Technical analysis indicates possible price targets up to $60, with immediate resistance clustered between $34 and $35. Support levels are identified between $30 and $32, underpinned by a grouping of moving averages within the $28 to $30 range.
Conversely, Ripple’s XRP token experienced downward pressure, trading at approximately $1.50 during the same timeframe, reflecting a 3.93% decrease. This decline juxtaposes the positive developments surrounding the Ripple Prime platform and Hyperliquid partnership, unveiling complexities in market sentiment towards XRP amid expanding institutional adoption initiatives.
In summary, Ripple’s incorporation of Hyperliquid into Ripple Prime marks a strategic expansion into decentralized financial instruments within an institutional context. By providing clients with unified access to both DeFi and traditional markets under a consolidated risk and margin framework, Ripple strengthens its prime brokerage proposition amidst a rapidly evolving digital asset landscape. The traction of Hyperliquid as a leading decentralized exchange and Ripple Prime’s escalating institutional footprint further underscore the platform’s growing significance. Meanwhile, the diverging token performance between HYPE and XRP suggests nuanced investor dynamics at play as Ripple navigates integration and adoption phases within the crypto ecosystem.