Is Ripple Prime abandoning XRP?

No. Higgins framed the Bitcoin push as additive. XRP remains a core asset for the desk; the change is that Bitcoin options are now an explicit mandate alongside it.

What role does RLUSD play here?

Higgins described RLUSD as the settlement and margin asset for the institutional flow Ripple Prime is courting, giving the stablecoin a use case tied to prime-brokerage activity.

How does Bullish fit in?

Ripple acquired Bullish, and Higgins said the desk is leveraging Bullish's existing order-book depth as the liquidity layer underneath Ripple Prime's institutional offering.

Are there confirmed institutional counterparties yet?

None are named in the U.Today interview. Until Ripple Prime discloses a counterparty or volume figure, the announcement is strategy-level rather than flow-confirmed.

Ripple Prime Pushes Past XRP Into Bitcoin Options as Higgins Bets on RLUSD-Backed Liquidity

Market impact

The affected-coins feed returned empty at capture, so live price reaction on XRP, BTC, or RLUSD-adjacent assets is not in the data block and is not asserted here. Structurally, the read is straightforward. If Ripple Prime lands institutional Bitcoin options flow, RLUSD circulating supply has a reason to grow beyond grant-funded pilots, and Bullish gets a volume tailwind on the options side where it has historically been thinner than spot.

The contrast paragraph: this is a CEO interview, not a counterparty announcement. Until Ripple Prime names a fund, market maker, or treasury that has cleared a Bitcoin options trade through the desk, the story is positioning, not flow.

Ripple Prime Chief Executive Mike Higgins said on Thursday that the institutional brokerage arm is scaling into Bitcoin options liquidity, moving the desk well beyond its XRP roots. In an interview published by U.Today, Higgins framed the push as a deliberate pivot toward institutional Bitcoin flow, anchored on RLUSD settlement rails and order books inherited from the Bullish acquisition. The comments mark the clearest signal yet that Ripple's prime brokerage ambitions extend across majors, not just the asset that built the parent company.

By Elena Stojanović· AI-assisted· Regulation correspondent

What happened

Mike Higgins, Chief Executive of Ripple Prime, told U. Today in remarks published Thursday that the brokerage is actively scaling into Bitcoin liquidity, with a focus on options. Higgins described the strategy as building on two pillars: RLUSD, Ripple's dollar stablecoin, as the settlement and margin asset, and the Bullish exchange's order books, which Ripple inherited through the Bullish acquisition that closed earlier in this cycle.

The CEO positioned the move as the natural next step for a desk that began life servicing XRP-denominated institutional flow but now wants to compete for Bitcoin mandates. U. Today first reported the comments.

No formal press release accompanied the interview at the time of capture.

Why it matters

Ripple has spent years pitching itself as XRP-first infrastructure. Higgins is publicly retiring that framing for the prime-brokerage arm. Bitcoin options are where the institutional money sits.

CME open interest on BTC options has run in the tens of billions of dollars through 2025 and into 2026, and Deribit still anchors the offshore book. A Ripple-branded desk routing institutional Bitcoin flow through RLUSD margin and Bullish liquidity is a direct shot at Galaxy, Cumberland DRW, and FalconX for prime-broker share. It also gives RLUSD a use case that doesn't depend on XRP Ledger adoption, which matters for a stablecoin still building circulating supply against USDC and USDT.

The headline reads bullish for Ripple. The proof will be in disclosed counterparties and RLUSD float.

Market impact

Ripple Prime Pushes Past XRP Into Bitcoin Options as Higgins Bets on RLUSD-Backed Liquidity

What happened

Why it matters

Market impact

What to watch

Disclaimer

Key takeaways

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