Ripple has successfully secured a $200 million asset-backed debt facility in collaboration with Neuberger Specialty Finance, the investment branch of Neuberger Berman, a prominent global asset manager. This funding will facilitate the growth of Ripple Prime, Ripple’s institutional multi-asset prime brokerage platform, which has quickly established itself as a leader in the realm of digital asset financial services. Announced on May 11, 2026, this partnership signifies a robust endorsement from traditional financial institutions. Neuberger Berman, which manages approximately $570 billion in assets, marks this collaboration as one of the most substantial between a conventional asset manager and a cryptocurrency-focused enterprise.
The Ripple Prime platform is the rebranded entity that evolved from Hidden Road, acquired by Ripple in October 2025 for $1.25 billion. This acquisition positioned Ripple as the first crypto firm to own a global, multi-asset prime brokerage. At the time, Hidden Road was already clearing around $3 trillion annually and served more than 300 institutional clients across foreign exchange, fixed income, derivatives, and digital assets. Since the rebranding, Ripple Prime has seen remarkable growth: revenues have tripled year-over-year, client collateral has doubled, and daily transaction volumes now exceed 60 million. In March 2026, Ripple Prime gained access to the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) MPID database, integrating it into essential U.S. clearing systems. Just a month later, the platform earned a BBB investment-grade rating from Kroll, becoming the first crypto-related prime broker to achieve such an accolade, thereby unlocking access to a new pool of regulated capital from institutional investors, including pension funds and banks.
The structure of the Neuberger facility is noteworthy, diverging from standard crypto lending setups by incorporating a cross-collateralization framework that connects traditional and digital markets seamlessly. This allows institutional clients to utilize assets like U.S. Treasuries as collateral against crypto trading positions within a single credit line. Noel Kimmel, President of Ripple Prime, highlighted that this approach offers a unified structure for all major asset classes. The facility is designed to allow Ripple to draw down funds in stages based on actual client demand, mitigating leverage risks while aligning capital availability with institutional requirements.
This facility forms part of a broader strategic evolution for Ripple, which invested around $2.45 billion in various acquisitions throughout 2025, transforming from a cross-border payment service into a comprehensive digital asset financial infrastructure provider. Besides acquiring Hidden Road, Ripple purchased the stablecoin platform Rail for $200 million and treasury management provider GTreasury for $1 billion, supported by a $500 million fundraising effort at a $40 billion valuation, aided by entities like Fortress Investment Group and Citadel Securities.
Ripple’s enterprise-grade stablecoin, RLUSD, plays a crucial role across these platforms and has been authorized as margin collateral on OKX and for BTC options collateral on Bullish. Furthermore, Ripple is exploring migrating post-trade settlement operations onto the XRP Ledger, aiming to lower operational costs and potentially establishing the XRPL as a leading blockchain infrastructure for institutional use.
Despite the significance of the Neuberger deal, the price of XRP has shown a muted response. The token briefly peaked at $1.49, reflecting a 2.7% increase, only to settle between $1.45 and $1.46. This subdued reaction mirrors a trend observed in 2026, where significant institutional accomplishments haven’t translated into sustained price increases for XRP, which has dropped from its all-time high of $3.65 in July 2025.
Market dynamics remain challenging, with ongoing macroeconomic factors, including a government shutdown that affected the timeline for the CLARITY Act, and rising geopolitical tensions steering investors toward safer assets. A potential catalyst looms, as the CLARITY Act is slated for a Senate Banking Committee markup on May 14, 2026, promising critical regulatory clarity that could propel institutional investment in XRP.
In this evolving landscape, Ripple faces increasing competition as other financial institutions, like State Street and Standard Chartered, build their own digital asset platforms. Crypto-native competitors, including Coinbase Prime and Galaxy Digital, are also enhancing their service offerings.
Overall, Ripple’s advancements within the institutional crypto space align with broader market trends showcasing renewed interest from institutional investors. Estimates suggest that institutional treasuries could collectively hold over $1 trillion in digital assets by 2027. Given its recent achievements—such as a BBB credit rating and the $200 million facility—the visibility and credibility of Ripple Prime as an institutional crypto platform have significantly increased. The critical question for investors remains whether this burgeoning infrastructure will lead to substantial appreciation in XRP’s market price.
