CoinDesk
Ripple's prime-brokerage unit closed a $200 million funding agreement with Neuberger Berman on Monday, expanding the margin financing it offers institutional clients trading across traditional and digital-asset markets. The facility, arranged with Neuberger Specialty Finance, extends the balance sheet behind Ripple Prime — the platform Ripple built on its $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road in 2025 — and arrives as prime-brokerage revenue has tripled year over year since the rebranding.
Why it matters
Neuberger Berman manages roughly $570 billion in total assets, and the unit leading the facility — Neuberger Specialty Finance — is built around asset-based finance rather than passive capital deployment. That distinction matters: the $200M is structured as working-capital funding that scales with client margin usage, not a balance-sheet equity check. For Ripple Prime, it removes a binding constraint on growth — the platform's tripled revenue already reflects demand it couldn't fully underwrite.
The deal also lands inside a wider institutional build-out. State Street launched a digital-asset platform earlier this year, Standard Chartered is building a crypto prime brokerage, and Ripple itself closed a $500 million raise at a $40 billion valuation in 2025, backed by Fortress and Citadel Securities. Each new entrant is a vote that institutional crypto trading has crossed the threshold from optionality to core workflow.
Market impact
The clearest read is on XRP, where Ripple's expansion pulls more institutional flow onto the rails it operates — custody, stablecoins, and prime brokerage all feed back to the broader Ripple stack. The funding also tightens competitive pressure on standalone crypto prime brokers: balance-sheet depth is now the differentiator, not just client experience. Watch the next quarterly disclosure for Ripple Prime's client count and notional volumes — those numbers, more than the $200M headline, will tell you whether Neuberger Berman's capital is the start of a recurring facility or a one-time expansion.
Frequently asked questions
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What did Neuberger Berman actually fund in this deal?
A $200 million asset-based finance facility for Ripple Prime, the prime-brokerage platform Ripple built on its 2025 acquisition of Hidden Road. The funding scales with client margin usage rather than sitting as passive equity on Ripple's balance sheet.
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Why is Neuberger Berman's involvement significant?
Neuberger Berman manages roughly $570 billion in total assets, and the unit leading the facility — Neuberger Specialty Finance — specialises in asset-based lending. That signals institutional credit infrastructure, not just a name-brand cheque, behind Ripple Prime's expansion.
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How has Ripple Prime performed since the Hidden Road acquisition?
Ripple acquired Hidden Road for $1.25 billion in 2025 and rebranded the unit as Ripple Prime. The company said on Monday that prime-brokerage revenue has tripled year over year since the deal closed.
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How does this fit into the wider institutional crypto build-out?
Ripple's funding lands alongside State Street's new digital-asset platform, Standard Chartered's planned crypto prime brokerage, and Ripple's separate $500 million raise at a $40 billion valuation in 2025, backed by Fortress Investment Group and Citadel Securities.
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What is the market impact of the $200M facility?
It removes the balance-sheet constraint on Ripple Prime's growth, intensifies competitive pressure on standalone crypto prime brokers, and ties more institutional flow into the broader Ripple stack — custody, stablecoins, and prime brokerage all feed off the same client base.
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