Ripple Prime’s ETF Push Tests the Rise of Nonbank Financing

In Ripple news today, Ripple Prime is reportedly providing total-return-swap financing to leveraged exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuers. This marks its entry in a U.S. sector that Morningstar Direct data counts at 593 funds and more than $256 billion in assets. The figure describes the ETFs’ combined assets, not Ripple Prime’s financing book, revenue, or the amount of capital it has committed. The report, published on Friday, October 9, 2026, places the prime-brokerage business in a fee-generating segment of institutional finance. This is not simply a crypto company adding another product. It is a nonbank firm entering a financing business traditionally dominated by banks, as tighter capital limits create room for competitors. Ripple acquired Hidden Road for $1.25 billion and now operates the brokerage as Ripple Prime; the reported transactions do not establish any role for XRP or RLUSD. The move also fits Ripple’s broader effort to build fee-generating businesses beyond its digital-asset holdings, though the ETF financing report does not quantify its contribution. A large addressable pool of fund assets is not evidence of equivalent business volume for Ripple, and that distinction ...