Ripple has published a new whitepaper arguing that institutional crypto market structure still lacks the settlement, credit and risk infrastructure needed to support large-scale participation. In the paper, Ripple says digital assets need a Digital Prime Brokerage model built around centralized credit intermediation, aggregated liquidity and T+1 net settlement if the market is to mature beyond its exchange-centric architecture.
Ripple’s Managing Director for Middle East & Africa Reece Merrick announced the whitepaper via X: “Traditional finance meets digital assets, but the bridge can still be a little shaky. Managing a matrix of exchanges and bilateral risks isn’t just a headache, it’s an inefficiency tax on your capital. The new Ripple whitepaper introduces the Digital Prime Broker (DPB) model, transforming complex risk into a streamlined 1:1 relationship.”
Ripple Targets Crypto Market Fragmentation
The whitepaper, titled The Blueprint for Institutional Digital Assets Trading, frames today’s OTC crypto market as structurally inefficient compared with foreign exchange. Ripple argues that institutions are still forced to operate across fragmented venues where execution, custody and credit are bundled together, collateral is siloed, and firms must maintain multiple bilateral relationships. The paper identifies three main frictions: multiplied credit risk, trapped capital and fragmented asset risk.
Ripple’s core claim is that crypto should borrow more directly from FX market structure. “This paper explains why digital asset markets require a prime brokerage–style model that features centralized credit intermediation, netted T+1 settlement, and the unbundling of execution, custody, and credit into clearly defined roles,” the paper says. It adds that the Digital Prime Broker, or DPB, should function as “core shared infrastructure” that can be tuned to different client requirements rather than forcing everyone into a single rigid model.
Under that framework, a client would execute one master agreement with a prime broker, while trades done with approved liquidity providers and market makers would be given up to that broker. Ripple argues this replaces a web of bilateral exposures with a single contractual counterparty, simplifying legal, compliance and settlement workflows while reducing failure risk across venues.
The paper leans heavily on capital efficiency. Ripple says the current market still relies on gross settlement or full prefunding, which forces repeated intraday asset transfers and leaves collateral stranded across exchanges. In one example, it says a client buying 100 BTC and selling 80 BTC during the same cycle would only need to settle 20 BTC net under a T+1 model, cutting gross fund movements by roughly 89%.
It also argues that the existing system hides financing costs rather than removing them. Ripple says offshore exchanges and bilateral liquidity providers often apply default swap rates of around 11%, roughly 7% above the risk-free rate, implying a daily funding cost of about 1.92 basis points, or $192 per $1 million per day. In Ripple’s telling, a DPB model would make those costs explicit instead of embedding them in spreads or subsidizing them through interest-free client collateral.
The paper also includes outside support from XTX Markets COO Mike Irwin, who writes: “A Digital Prime Brokerage model will enable institutional participants, including retail aggregators, to reduce operational risk, unlock trapped capital, and scale growth. As clients increasingly favor net-settled, prime-based structures, liquidity providers and venues will have to adapt. Adoption, however, will depend on prime brokers supporting specific client needs and constraints rather than enforcing a rigid, one-size-fits-all model.”
XRP is present, but not as the main story. Ripple says the XRP Ledger could support early settlement through onchain credit lines that fund obligations ahead of the standard T+1 net settlement cycle, with funding costs charged transparently to the party requesting early liquidity. That makes XRP part of the proposed plumbing, but the whitepaper’s main thesis is broader: institutional crypto still needs better market structure before it can look more like mature finance.
At press time, XRP traded at $1.4129.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
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