Five-Venue Measure Recorded About $9 Billion in RWA Perpetual Open Interest

Open interest in real-world-asset (RWA) perpetual contracts across five venues was about $9 billion, or 14% of the sample's total perpetual open interest. The figure adds market context to Ripple Prime's institutional swaps launch, but does not measure activity on the brokerage's service.

Total perpetual open interest across the five venues was about $67 billion, down from $81 billion a year earlier. RWA perpetual open interest had grown from near zero over that period. Open interest counts positions that remain open, so it differs from trading volume. Perpetual contracts have no fixed expiration date, allowing a position to remain open without moving into a new dated contract.

Ripple Prime announced the service Thursday, Oct. 15, extending its institutional brokerage offering to more than 100 markets tied to equities, indexes, exchange-traded funds, metals, energy products and foreign exchange. Ripple Prime acts as principal in the swaps, which reference perpetual futures listed by Trade.xyz on Hyperliquid. Trading and settlement are available around the clock.

Institutional clients can cross-margin the swaps with other asset classes supported by Ripple Prime and use RLUSD as collateral, depending on jurisdiction. Virtu was among the clients already trading the product at launch. “24/7 cross-margining across asset classes helps us expand our presence more efficiently,” said Scotte Moegling, Virtu's head of business development for digital assets.

The service is offered through Ripple Prime's CIV BVI license. Ripple intends to expand into additional regions but has not set a schedule. Ripple acquired Hidden Road for $1.25 billion in 2025; after the acquisition closed in October, the brokerage became Ripple Prime. The company announced support for institutional access to Hyperliquid in February 2026, before adding swaps linked to traditional-asset markets.