Garlinghouse Confirms Ripple Prime Making XRP “Good Collateral Across Lots of Institutional Platforms”

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that Ripple Prime is helping position XRP as collateral across various institutional platforms. 

Garlinghouse disclosed this while discussing crypto institutional adoption at the ongoing Consensus 2026 in Miami, pointing out that large institutions have now started seeing more use cases for crypto assets.

Key Points

• Garlinghouse stated at Consensus 2026 in Miami that, through Ripple Prime, XRP is becoming usable as collateral across multiple institutional platforms.
• Ripple acquired Hidden Road for $1.25 billion in April 2025, later rebranding it as Ripple Prime.
• RLUSD was confirmed as the primary collateral asset across services handling over $3 trillion in annual clearing volume.
• DTCC recently named Ripple Prime as a participant in its tokenization initiative.

Ripple Prime Making XRP Good Collateral

While speaking at Consensus, Garlinghouse pointed out that Bitcoin had moved back above the $80,000 mark for the first time since January. However, he expressed surprise that the broader market still seemed slow despite many positive signals. 

The Ripple CEO noted that the space is gradually reaching a point where crypto becomes more practical, especially when it comes to using it as collateral and for leverage. To him, institutions are starting to see more real-world use for these assets.

Speaking further, he referenced Ripple’s own efforts, including its recent acquisitions and focus on prime brokerage services. 

Garlinghouse pointed out that acquiring Hidden Road plays an important role in this strategy, as it helps make XRP usable as collateral across different institutional platforms. He called this development “a big deal.”

In his words: “Our company, Hidden Road, the prime brokerage business making XRP good collateral across lots of different institutional platforms is a big deal.”

Interestingly, earlier this year, in March, Mike Higgins, the CEO of Ripple Prime, also confirmed that the company was leveraging XRP as collateral for institutional trades, challenging the narrative that XRP had absolutely no utility on the platform.

Ripple Prime’s Use of RLUSD Collateral

This is particularly important for the XRP community because previous discussions had suggested that Ripple Prime (formerly Hidden Road) only leverages RLUSD, the Ripple stablecoin, as collateral, with no use case for XRP.

Notably, in April 2025, Ripple announced a $1.25 billion deal to acquire Hidden Road. At the time, the company confirmed that Hidden Road planned to use RLUSD as collateral across its prime brokerage services, which handle over $3 trillion in annual clearing volume.

By July 2025, Garlinghouse revealed that RLUSD had been approved as collateral for all Hidden Road services. This showed that the stablecoin was becoming central to the platform’s operations. Some derivatives clients also began holding balances in RLUSD.

XRP’s Absence as Collateral

Amid these developments, most discussions focused on the fact that XRP was not being used as the main collateral asset within Ripple Prime. Several recent conversations pointed out that RLUSD, not XRP, served as the primary collateral and margin asset in Ripple Prime and in related DTCC pilot programs.

Critics argued that XRP was not required for any Ripple Prime services and that there was no role for it within the system. They raised concerns about volatility, noting that XRP can move between 5% and 10% in a single day. Because of this, many institutions prefer RLUSD, which offers more stability for collateral purposes.

Ripple Prime in DTCC Tokenization Initiative

These concerns recently re-emerged after the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) mentioned Ripple Prime as a participant in its tokenization initiative. On May 4, 2026, the DTCC announced progress on its DTC tokenization service. 

This project aims to bring tokenized assets like equities, ETFs, and U.S. Treasuries into existing post-trade systems. DTCC currently holds about $114 trillion in assets and is working with over 50 financial firms on this effort.

Ripple Prime is part of the DTCC Industry Working Group, alongside major names such as BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan, Citadel, Bank of America, Nasdaq, Robinhood, Ondo Finance, Circle, BitGo, and Anchorage Digital.