Ripple Prime secures $200M debt facility from Neuberger Specialty Finance to supercharge institutional lending
The prime brokerage arm, born from Ripple's Hidden Road acquisition, is betting big on margin financing as institutional crypto demand triples.
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Add us on Google by Editorial Team May. 11, 2026Ripple Prime just locked down a $200 million debt facility from Neuberger Specialty Finance, giving the firm a significant war chest to expand its margin financing and lending operations for institutional clients. For a division that saw its revenue triple year-over-year, this is less of a gamble and more of a calculated doubling down.
The facility is structured with flexible drawdown terms, meaning Ripple Prime doesn’t have to deploy all $200M at once. Instead, it can tap the capital as client demand dictates, improving liquidity across both crypto and traditional markets without sitting on idle cash.
From acquisition to acceleration
Ripple Prime didn’t exist in its current form until late 2025. That’s when Ripple Labs acquired Hidden Road, a prime brokerage firm, and folded it into its institutional services stack. The result was Ripple Prime, a division purpose-built to serve the kind of clients who move large sums and expect the infrastructure to handle it.
The US institutional offering launched on November 3, 2025. In the months since, the unit has scaled rapidly enough to justify a nine-figure credit line from a specialty lender like Neuberger.
Ripple Prime President Noel Kimmel framed the facility as a direct response to client needs, noting it would lead to increased margin capacity and improved capital efficiency.
The threefold revenue jump is the number that matters most here. It signals that institutional appetite for crypto prime brokerage services isn’t just growing, it’s accelerating at a pace that requires external financing to keep up.
What this means for investors
The most interesting angle here isn’t the debt facility itself. It’s what the facility enables for the broader Ripple ecosystem, particularly XRP and RLUSD.
Analysts have suggested that expanding Ripple Prime’s lending and margin capabilities could increase the institutional utility of both XRP and RLUSD. If Ripple Prime accepts these assets as collateral for margin lending, that creates real, measurable demand beyond speculative trading.
There’s also concentration risk to consider. Ripple Prime’s rapid growth has been impressive, but a threefold revenue increase from a small base looks different than a threefold increase from a large one. Without knowing the absolute revenue figures, it’s difficult to assess whether the $200M facility is appropriately sized or aggressively leveraged.
The risk side deserves attention too. Debt facilities aren’t free money. Ripple Prime now has obligations to Neuberger that must be serviced regardless of market conditions. The flexible drawdown structure mitigates this somewhat, since Ripple Prime only taps what it needs, but the commitment is still there.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
