XRP could be used in future as a collateral asset in institutional finance alongside bitcoin, ether and stablecoins, an outlook showed.

On May 11 local time, blockchain outlet The Crypto Basic reported that Ripple Prime CEO Mike Higgins (마이크 히긴스) said in a recent podcast that XRP’s role at institutions would grow.

Higgins said the crypto market is being reshaped to resemble traditional finance. He said it is moving away from a structure in which exchanges handle trading, custody, brokerage and clearing at once, toward one in which separate operators take on each function. He said institutions prefer custodians and tri-party collateral structures rather than keeping assets directly on exchanges, and that systems that allow assets to be used as collateral without transferring ownership to an exchange are becoming more important.

He cited bitcoin, ether, XRP, stablecoins and tokenised money market funds (MMFs) as asset classes that would be incorporated into future collateral and payment systems. That implies the range of institutional collateral could expand beyond traditional assets to include major cryptocurrencies and tokenised assets.

The remarks put weight on the idea that XRP could be used beyond being a price-volatile asset, including to meet margin requirements, process payments and manage liquidity. Higgins said he believed that almost anything with value would eventually be tokenised and used for payments, finance and margin trading.

The expansion of tokenisation is also linked to real-time payment infrastructure. Higgins laid out a structure in which tokenised assets could ultimately be used immediately for everyday payments. He cited as an example an environment in which someone could buy a cappuccino at Starbucks using a token of Nvidia shares even on a Sunday when traditional markets are closed. He said instant payment systems, real-time pricing and advanced risk-management tools would be needed for this.

Higgins also stressed that Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD could improve capital efficiency. He said traders could respond immediately to margin calls by using stablecoins without waiting for bank transfers, which could lower risk and help reduce the amount of initial margin required by brokers. Higgins said faster settlement could shift financial firms’ operating standards from being business-day based to calendar-day based.

The concept also dovetails with Ripple’s acquisition of Hidden Road. Hidden Road is currently operated as Ripple Prime, and is focused on cross-margin services between crypto spot markets and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), futures and options. Higgins said institutions are already using strategies that combine spot, spot bitcoin ETFs and futures. He added that more infrastructure is still needed to support such trading efficiently.

Ultimately, the key point of the remarks is that he did not confine the scope of XRP’s use to payment networks alone. Higgins said that if institutional finance moves toward separating trading, custody, collateral management and clearing, and tokenised assets grow rapidly, XRP could be used within collateral and settlement infrastructure alongside bitcoin and stablecoins.

Recorded last Fall, the video linked below supports the post above. An under-the-radar Derivatives Decoded Podcast with @Ripple Prime CEO, talking about using XRP, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and Stablecoins as Collateral. https://t.co/TQf94YVfQ1