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

According to Bloomberg, Ripple’s prime brokerage division Ripple Prime is launching real-world asset (RWA) perpetual contracts for institutional clients, covering over 100 reference markets including stocks, indices, ETFs, and commodities. The product is offered via Trade.xyz on Hyperliquid, continuing Ripple Prime’s prior strategy of opening crypto perpetual contract trading to its clients. This setup supports cross-position margin sharing. Michael Higgins, Ripple Prime’s International CEO, said the move helps institutions improve capital utilization and position management efficiency. Clients can either pair perpetual contracts with underlying assets for basis trading, or use the contracts for directional trading to gain exposure to relevant assets during traditional market holidays and weekends. Over the past year, the open interest of RWA perpetual contracts on several major trading platforms has risen from near zero to $9 billion. Higgins also noted that traditional hedge funds are “very close” to directly participating in the tokenized RWA market, with the key being establishing infrastructure that meets their counterparty and anti-money laundering requirements.