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Bullish Links With Ripple Prime to Unlock Bitcoin Options for Institutions
- Crypto exchange Bullish has expanded its integration with Ripple Prime, giving institutional clients access to Bitcoin options trading alongside existing spot and derivatives services.
- The move supports collateral like Ripple’s new stablecoin, RLUSD, and will boost capital efficiency for institutional investors through cross-venue margining.
More than 300 institutional users of Ripple’s brokerage platform, Ripple Prime, can now trade Bitcoin options using stablecoins through an integration with the Bullish crypto exchange.
Ripple Prime cleared over US$3 trillion worth of trades in 2025 across multi-asset markets, including crypto, forex, commodities, and exchange-traded derivatives. The platform provides financing and trade execution services for over 300 institutional clients, such as hedge funds and finance firms.
The Bullish integration gives Ripple Prime customers direct access to regulated BTC options markets, which comes on top of existing access to Bullish’s spot, perpetuals and dated futures.
Users can leverage their stablecoins, including Ripple USD (RLUSD), to trade BTC options through their existing Ripple Prime account. “Planned support for cross-venue margin will further allow institutions to optimize collateral across exchanges and OTC desks for greater capital efficiency,” Bullish said.
The ability for institutional clients to cross-margin across multiple types of venues for their options trading only strengthens the depth of participation, optimizing capital efficiency while facing a regulated and well-capitalized counterparty in Ripple Prime.
Mike Higgins, International CEO, Ripple Prime Ripple Prime is a rebranding of the HiddenRoad prime brokerage, which was acquired by Ripple in late 2025, making it the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker. It was a move designed to boost the uptake of its RLUSD stablecoin, launched in late 2024 — the company said it expected a growing share of its derivatives customers to hold their balances in RLUSD.
Related: Charles Schwab Enters Crypto Trading With Bitcoin and Ether Rollout
BTC Options Demand Growing
Chris Tyrer, president of Bullish Exchange, said institutional demand for crypto derivatives was growing and “having access to options is central for sophisticated investors looking to manage risk more precisely across their digital asset portfolios.”
Bullish is also focused on institutional investors, and only launched crypto options trading in October 2025 — enabling BTC options trades settled using the USDC stablecoin initially. It’s now amongst the largest platforms for Bitcoin options trading volumes.
Deribit, which was recently acquired by Coinbase, is the largest platform for open interest, crypto-settled Bitcoin options. Before it was snapped up by Coinbase, Derebit reported a 99% year-over-year increase in options trading volume in 2024-25.
Related: Bitcoin ETFs See $471M Inflow Surge as BlackRock’s IBIT Leads
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Just this week, Bitwise advisor Jeff Park argued that BTC options were now influencing the digital asset’s volatility and price, with the popular options market linked to BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) recently overtaking open interest on Derebit.
He thinks continued growth of IBIT options could be bullish for Bitcoin. “My prediction is that it is going to be led by IBIT options and the reflexive nature in which the gamma that is possibly created within something like Bitcoin due to its scarcity can really, really lead the next leg up in a meaningful way,” Park said.
Author
Jody McDonald
Jody is a Brisbane-based freelance writer who specialises in writing about business, technology, and the future of work.
