Ripple takes on Wall Street banks in leveraged ETF swap financing

What happened

Ripple is now competing with Wall Street banks in the financing of swaps for leveraged exchange-traded funds, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The enterprise blockchain firm has become a major player in that segment. Ripple pursues the business through Ripple Prime, its institutional brokerage arm.

Ripple built that arm from Hidden Road, a global multi-asset prime broker. Ripple announced the $1.25 billion purchase in April 2025 and completed the deal in October 2025, when Hidden Road was rebranded as Ripple Prime. In August 2026, Ripple Prime started a Delta One offering for total return swaps on U.S.-listed equities, indexes and digital assets. On Oct. 6, Ripple announced it expanded a partnership with Brevan Howard, which has around $35 billion in assets under management.

Why it matters

The market Ripple is entering is sizeable. Morningstar Direct data shows 593 leveraged ETFs trade in the U.S., with assets under management over $256 billion. Of that total, 426 are single-stock leveraged ETFs. Fees can be high: the WSJ report says one leveraged fund pays the overnight bank funding rate plus 4% for financing costs, about 8% right now, plus management fees of around 1%.

Banks and brokerage houses have traditionally offered these contracts for a fee while hedging their risk to the underlying asset. Ripple is trying to take a share of that business, and the Journal calls it a major competitor to banks. Traditional Wall Street banks still hold the lion's share of institutional financing.

What the data shows

Morningstar Direct counts 593 U.S.-listed leveraged ETFs with over $256 billion in assets under management, of which 426 are single-stock funds. The WSJ report cites a fund paying the overnight bank funding rate plus 4%, or about 8%, for financing, plus management fees near 1%. Ripple's Hidden Road deal was valued at $1.25 billion, and Brevan Howard manages around $35 billion.

Background

Ripple announced the acquisition of the multi-asset prime broker Hidden Road in April 2025 for $1.25 billion. It closed the deal in October 2025 and rebranded the business as Ripple Prime, giving Ripple a platform for brokerage, clearing and financing across FX, derivatives, fixed income and digital assets. Ripple Prime launched its Delta One offering in August 2026. Most recently, on Oct. 6, Ripple said it expanded its partnership with Brevan Howard, an alternative asset manager with around $35 billion in assets under management.

What is still unclear

• The reports do not state Ripple's share of the leveraged ETF financing market, so how much business it has won from banks is not known.
• One XRP supporter says the Journal report shows Ripple quietly becoming a prime intermediary in the leveraged ETF market, earning daily swap spreads and filling a niche left open by post-crisis bank rules. That is a supporter's view, not a figure from the reports.

Questions readers ask