Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse acknowledged that Ripple Prime helps place XRP as collateral throughout numerous institutional platforms.
Garlinghouse disclosed this whereas discussing crypto institutional adoption on the ongoing Consensus 2026 in Miami, declaring that giant establishments have now began seeing extra use circumstances for crypto belongings.
Key Factors
- Garlinghouse acknowledged at Consensus 2026 in Miami that, via Ripple Prime, XRP is turning into usable as collateral throughout a number of institutional platforms.
- Ripple acquired Hidden Highway for $1.25 billion in April 2025, later rebranding it as Ripple Prime.
- RLUSD was confirmed as the first collateral asset throughout companies dealing with over $3 trillion in annual clearing quantity.
- DTCC lately named Ripple Prime as a participant in its tokenization initiative.
Ripple Prime Making XRP Good Collateral
Whereas talking at Consensus, Garlinghouse identified that Bitcoin had moved again above the $80,000 mark for the primary time since January. Nonetheless, he expressed shock that the broader market nonetheless appeared gradual regardless of many constructive alerts.
The Ripple CEO famous that the house is progressively reaching some extent the place crypto turns into extra sensible, particularly in the case of utilizing it as collateral and for leverage. To him, establishments are beginning to see extra real-world use for these belongings.
Talking additional, he referenced Ripple’s personal efforts, together with its latest acquisitions and deal with prime brokerage companies.
Garlinghouse identified that buying Hidden Highway performs an necessary function on this technique, because it helps make XRP usable as collateral throughout completely different institutional platforms. He referred to as this growth “an enormous deal.”
In his phrases: “Our firm, Hidden Highway, the prime brokerage enterprise making XRP good collateral throughout a number of completely different institutional platforms is an enormous deal.”
Curiously, earlier this 12 months, in March, Mike Higgins, the CEO of Ripple Prime, additionally confirmed that the corporate was leveraging XRP as collateral for institutional trades, difficult the narrative that XRP had completely no utility on the platform.
Ripple Prime’s Use of RLUSD Collateral
That is notably necessary for the XRP group as a result of earlier discussions had steered that Ripple Prime (previously Hidden Highway) solely leverages RLUSD, the Ripple stablecoin, as collateral, with no use case for XRP.
Notably, in April 2025, Ripple introduced a $1.25 billion deal to accumulate Hidden Highway. On the time, the corporate confirmed that Hidden Highway deliberate to make use of RLUSD as collateral throughout its prime brokerage companies, which deal with over $3 trillion in annual clearing quantity.
By July 2025, Garlinghouse revealed that RLUSD had been authorized as collateral for all Hidden Highway companies. This confirmed that the stablecoin was turning into central to the platform’s operations. Some derivatives shoppers additionally started holding balances in RLUSD.
XRP’s Absence as Collateral
Amid these developments, most discussions centered on the truth that XRP was not getting used as the principle collateral asset inside Ripple Prime. A number of latest conversations identified that RLUSD, not XRP, served as the first collateral and margin asset in Ripple Prime and in associated DTCC pilot applications.
Critics argued that XRP was not required for any Ripple Prime companies and that there was no function for it inside the system. They raised considerations about volatility, noting that XRP can transfer between 5% and 10% in a single day. Due to this, many establishments favor RLUSD, which affords extra stability for collateral functions.
Ripple Prime in DTCC Tokenization Initiative
These considerations lately re-emerged after the Depository Belief & Clearing Company (DTCC) talked about Ripple Prime as a participant in its tokenization initiative. On Could 4, 2026, the DTCC introduced progress on its DTC tokenization service.
This undertaking goals to convey tokenized belongings like equities, ETFs, and U.S. Treasuries into current post-trade methods. DTCC presently holds about $114 trillion in belongings and is working with over 50 monetary companies on this effort.
Ripple Prime is a part of the DTCC Business Working Group, alongside main names similar to BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan, Citadel, Financial institution of America, Nasdaq, Robinhood, Ondo Finance, Circle, BitGo, and Anchorage Digital.
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