Ripple has expanded its agreement with Brevan Howard, a global alternative investment manager overseeing approximately $35 billion and employing around 1,000 team members, to provide its funds with multi-asset prime brokerage, clearing, and financing through Ripple Prime. According to Ripple's October 6 announcement, the partnership will enable Brevan Howard's investment teams to access brokerage, clearing and financing services across traditional and digital asset markets through a unified platform. The expanded relationship reflects growing demand from top-tier investment managers globally for prime brokerage solutions across traditional and digital markets within a regulated, enterprise-grade framework. Noel Kimmel, President of Ripple Prime, emphasized that there are few firms equipped to provide the next generation of prime services that sophisticated investors expect, with Brevan Howard's trust in Ripple Prime recognition of their strong competitive position and cross-asset capabilities. The expanded relationship builds on Brevan Howard's existing support for Ripple, with funds managed by affiliates participating in Ripple's $500 million strategic investment completed on November 5, 2025, at a $40 billion valuation.
Ripple Prime is now financing leveraged stock exchange-traded funds, entering a market traditionally dominated by major banks and securities firms. According to Wall Street Journal reports, the company provides financing for funds that allow investors to multiply daily moves of individual stocks and market indexes through total return swaps. The Tradr 2X Long SNDK Daily ETF, which targets twice the daily movement of memory-chip maker Sandisk, pays Ripple the overnight bank funding rate plus four percentage points, resulting in an annualized financing rate of roughly 8% at prevailing rates. This business model allows funds to gain amplified exposure to stocks like Nvidia without purchasing twice the actual assets, with Ripple providing the brokerage exposure while hedging its own risk through stock purchases. The U.S. market now contains 593 leveraged ETFs holding more than $256 billion, including 426 funds tracking individual stocks, creating significant opportunities for nonbank firms like Ripple Prime. Leveraged ETFs generally seek to produce two or three times the daily return of an underlying asset or index, with their managers using derivatives to obtain the required exposure without purchasing an equivalent amount of shares.
As reported by Ripple, funds managed by Brevan Howard affiliates participated in Ripple's $500 million strategic investment completed on November 5, 2025, at a $40 billion valuation. The funding round included participation from Fortress Investment Group affiliates, Citadel Securities affiliates, Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, Brevan Howard, and Marshall Wace among other institutional investors. Ripple described the funding as new common equity and chose to accept the investment because of the value of closer relationships with financial partners. The company also completed a separate $1 billion tender offer at the same valuation, with the expanded relationship underscoring confidence in Ripple's growth trajectory and long-term vision. Notably, Ripple's valuation increased to $50 billion earlier this year following a $750 million buyback program.
According to Group Chief Operating Officer Alan McGroarty, the growing connection between digital and traditional markets has increased the need for institutional-quality digital asset infrastructure. As reported by Ripple, the company's Delta One offering, launched on August 27, supports total return swaps linked to U.S.-listed equities, indexes and digital assets. The platform allows clients to maintain one counterparty relationship and cross-margin supported positions across asset classes around the clock, with existing markets including foreign exchange, derivatives, fixed income and digital assets. Alan McGroarty, Group COO of Brevan Howard, noted that as digital and traditional markets become more interconnected, the need for institutional-quality digital asset infrastructure that enables a seamless experience for investors is only growing, with Ripple's differentiated platform expected to provide increased operational ease and capital efficiency for their investment teams. Ripple Prime currently serves more than 300 institutional customers and clears more than $3 trillion annually across markets.
While the October 6 Brevan Howard agreement does not disclose specific XRP allocation or settlement requirements, Ripple has established clear channels for XRP integration within its prime brokerage operations. The company offers XRP spot trading and has described collateralized lending for XRP, with the Delta One desk maintaining more than $1 billion in regulatory net capital and having raised $275 million in senior notes after a $200 million debt facility. Ripple has identified RLUSD as collateral in several prime brokerage products and described plans to move post-trade activity onto the XRP Ledger. However, the distinction between XRP usage and XRP demand remains crucial - while institutions can trade or finance XRP directly, the ledger charges transaction fees in XRP and requires account reserves, but neither mechanism makes all brokerage volume equivalent to XRP purchases. Recent reporting indicates that Ripple Prime's leveraged ETF financing describes provision of swaps for exchange-traded products tied to public equities, with the underlying reference being a public equity rather than requiring XRP settlement unless specifically contracted.
Despite Ripple's expansion into traditional finance through leveraged ETF financing, XRP is trading around $1.41 with little sign of positive market reaction to the news. According to market analysis, the news represents more of a long-term ecosystem development than a direct bullish price catalyst for XRP. Unless Ripple Prime's expansion creates measurable demand for XRP, increases token utility, or triggers fresh buying interest, the immediate price impact may be limited. The company's institutional relationships extend beyond crypto trading into custody and tokenization partnerships, including work with Meritz Securities in South Korea. Ripple's acquisition of Hidden Road in 2025 for $1.25 billion transformed the prime brokerage business into Ripple Prime, with the company now seeking business from additional investment managers while its October 6 announcement demonstrates concrete institutional strategy execution.
