Ripple Prime Adds 24/7 RWA Perpetual Swaps

Ripple said on 15 October 2026 that Ripple Prime has launched support for real-world asset (RWA) perpetual swaps, and that institutional clients including Virtu are already trading them.

According to the company, the swaps give exposure to more than 100 reference markets spanning equities, equity indices, ETFs, metals, energy and foreign exchange, with trading and settlement available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

How the product works

The RWA swaps are traded through Ripple Prime as principal. They reference perpetual futures contracts listed by Trade.xyz on Hyperliquid, which Ripple describes as a high-performance decentralised derivatives venue. In plain terms: clients are not buying the underlying shares or barrels of oil through this product; they are taking derivative exposure that tracks perpetual futures linked to those markets, with Ripple Prime on the other side of the trade as principal.

Because the reference markets are said to trade continuously, including at weekends, Ripple argues institutions can manage exposures to traditional asset classes outside normal exchange hours.

Clients can also cross-margin RWA swap exposures against other asset classes Ripple Prime supports, and can use Ripple USD (RLUSD) as collateral for the swaps, the company said. Ripple presents that as a single counterparty relationship with centralised risk management and consolidated margin. A footnote on the release warns that RLUSD availability may differ by jurisdiction.

Who is using it

Ripple named Virtu among clients already trading. Scotte Moegling, head of business development for digital assets at Virtu, said in the release: “Virtu is ramping up across emerging liquidity pools, and Ripple Prime’s 24/7 cross-margining across asset classes helps us expand our presence more efficiently as markets move toward round-the-clock access.”

That is Virtu’s comment in Ripple’s announcement, not an independent volume report.

Licence and reach

The offering is currently available out of Ripple Prime’s CIV BVI licence, with the intention to offer from additional regions in the near future, Ripple said. It is therefore not a product open to every retail user in every country; it is an institutional prime-brokerage feature under a specific licensing footprint.

What Ripple claims about the market

Ripple said there has been “exponential growth” in trading volumes of perpetual futures contracts tied to real-world assets year to date. It did not publish a figure for that growth in the release. TSN is treating “exponential growth” as Ripple’s characterisation, not as a verified market statistic.

Michael Higgins, international chief executive of Ripple Prime, said: “RWA swaps are where traditional and digital markets meet. Institutions want exposure to equities, commodities, and currencies with the round-the-clock access and efficiencies of digital infrastructure.”

Why perpetual swaps are not the same as owning the asset

A perpetual swap (or perpetual future) is a derivative that lets a trader go long or short a reference price without a fixed expiry date, usually with funding payments between long and short sides to keep the contract near the underlying price. Holding the swap is not the same as holding the share, ETF or metal. That distinction matters for custody, voting rights, physical delivery and how the position appears on a balance sheet.

Ripple’s product sits in the growing middle ground where traditional market prices are packaged for always-on crypto market infrastructure. Trade.xyz’s listing venue on Hyperliquid is part of that stack; Ripple Prime’s role is the institutional wrapper — principal trading, margining and collateral, including optional RLUSD.

Why it matters

For institutions that already clear digital-asset trades, a 24/7 wrapper around equity, commodity and FX exposure is meant to solve a simple operational gap: traditional venues sleep; macro news does not. For the RWA narrative, this is exposure via derivatives rather than tokenised ownership of the asset itself — closer to the perpetual-futures wave than to a tokenised Treasury bill held in a wallet.

Competitors in tokenised stocks and perpetual stock products have been moving quickly; TSN has covered related products and policy debates separately (see Related stories). Ripple’s announcement does not say how its volumes or fees compare with those alternatives.

What’s still unknown

Trading volumes, open interest or fee schedules for the Ripple Prime RWA swaps.
Which of the “more than 100” markets are most active.
When additional regional licences will go live.
How funding rates and liquidation mechanics work for end clients in stressed markets.

What to watch

Watch for Ripple or Virtu to disclose volumes, for additional named liquidity providers, and for any expansion beyond the CIV BVI licence. Also watch whether RLUSD collateral use for these swaps shows up in later Ripple or banking-partner updates.

What this means

Live for some institutions. Ripple says clients including Virtu are trading; the product sits under a BVI licence today.
Derivatives, not ownership. Swaps reference Trade.xyz perpetual futures on Hyperliquid.
“Exponential growth” is Ripple’s line. No volume figure was provided in the release.