Key Takeaways
- • Brevan Howard, managing $35bn in assets, is expanding its relationship with Ripple Prime to access multi-asset prime brokerage, clearing, and financing services for its funds.
- • The expansion builds on Brevan Howard's $500m investment in Ripple's strategic funding round last year, deepening the institutional relationship between the two firms.
- • Ripple Prime secured a BBB rating from KBRA earlier in 2026 and is scaling beyond digital assets into equity prime brokerage and swaps, with recent integration of Hyperliquid providing direct access to decentralized finance venues.
- • Ripple secured $200m in debt financing from Neuberger Berman to support institutional margin lending capabilities, bolstering its infrastructure for professional investors.
Summary
Brevan Howard has expanded its operational relationship with Ripple, leveraging the digital-asset infrastructure provider's prime brokerage platform to support the hedge fund's trading and investment activities. The arrangement extends beyond Brevan Howard's existing capital commitment, which included participation in Ripple's $500m strategic funding round in 2025. Under the expanded deal, Ripple Prime will deliver multi-asset prime brokerage services, clearing, and financing capabilities to Brevan Howard funds, enabling the firm to consolidate infrastructure across both traditional and digital-asset markets.
The partnership reflects a broader institutional shift toward convergence between traditional finance and digital assets. Alan McGroarty, Brevan Howard Group's chief operating officer, noted that operational efficiency and capital utilization improvements drove the decision to deepen the Ripple relationship. For Ripple, the expanded engagement with a $35bn AUM manager validates Ripple Prime's institutional positioning as it scales beyond its original digital-asset-only focus. The platform, built on Ripple's 2024 acquisition of institutional prime broker Hidden Road, is increasingly positioning itself as a multi-asset infrastructure provider competing with traditional prime brokers.
Ripple Prime's capabilities have expanded significantly in 2026. The platform received a BBB credit rating from KBRA, which characterized the business as in its scaling phase with growth ambitions into equity prime brokerage and derivatives services. Recent integration of Hyperliquid into Ripple Prime provides the platform with its first direct connection to a major decentralized finance venue, broadening institutional access to crypto markets. Separately, Ripple strengthened its institutional lending infrastructure by securing a $200m debt facility from Neuberger Berman to support margin lending operations, underscoring investor confidence in the company's infrastructure strategy.
The partnership reflects a broader institutional shift toward convergence between traditional finance and digital assets. Alan McGroarty, Brevan Howard Group's chief operating officer, noted that operational efficiency and capital utilization improvements drove the decision to deepen the Ripple relationship. For Ripple, the expanded engagement with a $35bn AUM manager validates Ripple Prime's institutional positioning as it scales beyond its original digital-asset-only focus. The platform, built on Ripple's 2024 acquisition of institutional prime broker Hidden Road, is increasingly positioning itself as a multi-asset infrastructure provider competing with traditional prime brokers.
Ripple Prime's capabilities have expanded significantly in 2026. The platform received a BBB credit rating from KBRA, which characterized the business as in its scaling phase with growth ambitions into equity prime brokerage and derivatives services. Recent integration of Hyperliquid into Ripple Prime provides the platform with its first direct connection to a major decentralized finance venue, broadening institutional access to crypto markets. Separately, Ripple strengthened its institutional lending infrastructure by securing a $200m debt facility from Neuberger Berman to support margin lending operations, underscoring investor confidence in the company's infrastructure strategy.
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