Ripple and Coinbase Handed Institutions the One Thing They've Been Asking For

Ripple has added the full range of Coinbase Derivatives futures contracts to its Ripple Prime platform, giving institutional clients access to regulated crypto futures cleared through Nodal Clear. The move was announced jointly by Ripple and Nodal Clear on Thursday.

What Is Ripple Prime and How Does It Work?

Ripple Prime is the institutional prime brokerage arm of Ripple, the blockchain company closely associated with the XRP Ledger network. It offers multi-asset brokerage, clearing, and financing services and cleared more than $3 trillion in volume during 2025.

The platform was built on the foundation of Hidden Road Partners CIV US LLC, a futures commission merchant (FCM) and prime broker that Ripple acquired last year for $1.25 billion. An FCM is a firm registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that is authorized to accept customer funds for trading futures contracts. After the acquisition, Hidden Road was rebranded as Ripple Prime.

Clearing, in this context, means a central counterparty steps in between a buyer and a seller to guarantee that both sides of a trade are settled, even if one party defaults. Nodal Clear, a U.S.-registered derivatives clearing organization, performs that function for the Coinbase Derivatives contracts now available on Ripple Prime.

“Offering the full suite of Coinbase Derivatives contracts within Ripple Prime’s robust clearing framework underscores our commitment to delivering increased market access and efficiency to institutions globally,” Noel Kimmel, President of Ripple Prime, said.

What Contracts Are Now Available?

Ripple Prime clients can now access the following through Coinbase Derivatives:

• Nano Bitcoin (BIT) futures
• Nano Ethereum (ETH) futures
• Solana (SOL) futures in both institutional and nano sizes
• XRP futures in both institutional and nano sizes
• Traditional futures contracts for cryptocurrencies and commodities
• U.S. perpetual-style futures

Nano contracts are smaller-sized versions of standard futures, designed to reduce the amount of capital needed to trade. A nano Bitcoin contract, for example, represents a fraction of a full Bitcoin futures contract, making it accessible to a broader range of trading desks without requiring the same margin as a full-sized institutional contract. All contracts trade 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Why Are Regulated Crypto Futures Attracting Institutional Interest?

Crypto derivatives have become one of the fastest-growing segments of the digital asset market over the past two years. Futures contracts allow traders to gain exposure to price movements or hedge existing positions without holding the underlying tokens directly. For institutions operating under strict compliance requirements, that distinction matters.

The CFTC-regulated environment is a key part of the appeal. Unlike offshore or unregulated derivatives venues, CFTC oversight means standardized reporting, centralized clearing, and established rules for margin and default procedures. Many institutional trading desks require this framework before they can participate in a market.

"As demand for regulated crypto futures continues to grow, this collaboration reinforces our commitment to delivering deep liquidity, innovative contract design, and 24/7 trading to a broader range of market participants within a secure, CFTC-regulated framework," Boris Ilyevsky, Head of U.S. Futures Exchange at Coinbase, noted.

How Does This Fit Into Ripple's Broader Acquisition Strategy?

The Coinbase Derivatives integration is the latest step in a significant expansion push by Ripple over the past year. Beyond the $1.25 billion Hidden Road acquisition that created Ripple Prime, the company has made several other purchases:

• Rail, a stablecoin payments firm, acquired for $200 million
• GTreasury, a treasury technology provider
• Palisade, a crypto wallet infrastructure startup

Taken together, these acquisitions reflect an effort to build out a full-stack institutional offering covering payments, custody infrastructure, treasury management, and now regulated derivatives clearing.

Ripple Prime now sits at the center of that infrastructure, connecting institutional clients to regulated markets across multiple asset classes through a single prime brokerage platform.

Conclusion

Ripple Prime currently offers institutional clients multi-asset prime brokerage, clearing, and financing services across crypto and traditional asset classes, with over $3 trillion cleared in 2025. Through its partnership with Nodal Clear and Coinbase Derivatives, clients can now trade a full range of CFTC-regulated crypto futures, including nano and institutional-sized contracts for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP, on a 24/7 basis. Combined with Ripple's recent acquisitions in stablecoin payments, treasury technology, and wallet infrastructure, Ripple Prime operates as an integrated institutional platform rather than a standalone brokerage service.

Resources 

1. Press release by Coinbase and Ripple: Ripple Offers Clients Access to Coinbase Derivatives Contracts Cleared by Nodal Clear

2. Report by CoinDesk: Ripple adds Coinbase crypto futures to its $3 trillion clearing platform

3. Report by Reuters: Crypto firm Ripple to buy prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion