DriveWealth said clients will be able to fund and manage collateral accounts using stablecoins that can convert into cash in near real time rather than waiting for bank wires. The integration will use Ripple’s stablecoin infrastructure, including RLUSD mint-and-burn capabilities on the XRP Ledger.
Why Does 24/5 Trading Need 24/7 Funding?
DriveWealth already supports 24/5 access to U.S. equities, but the payments infrastructure behind those trades does not necessarily operate on the same timetable. U.S. securities settle on a T+1 basis, while international bank transfers can face cutoff times, weekends and delays across correspondent banking networks.
That gap can force brokers and fintechs to pre-fund accounts or maintain larger cash buffers so customers can continue trading when conventional payment channels are unavailable.
“We’ve already enabled 24/5 trading; now we need the funding to match, so clients can move with the markets instead of waiting for them,” DriveWealth CEO Naureen Hassan said.
DriveWealth supplies brokerage infrastructure to more than 100 partners globally, including fintechs, digital wallets and financial institutions offering access to U.S. markets. Its European affiliate is MiFID II licensed to provide securities trading and custody services across the European Economic Area.
Investor Takeaway
Stablecoin funding could reduce the need to pre-position cash simply because banking hours do not match extended-hours equity trading.
How Will RLUSD Fit Into DriveWealth’s Infrastructure?
The partnership extends beyond moving stablecoins into brokerage accounts. DriveWealth is integrating Ripple Payments for cross-border funding from global partners and plans to use Ripple’s infrastructure for digital asset custody, initially in Europe before expanding to other markets.
The company is also bringing treasury infrastructure onto Ripple’s rails, with the goal of giving clients a consolidated view of dollars, stablecoins and crypto assets and allowing capital to move between them when required.
RLUSD is becoming more closely connected with institutional collateral infrastructure. Standard Chartered launched institutional custody for RLUSD on the XRP Ledger this week and is working with Ripple and LMAX Group on a structure that would allow eligible clients to use the stablecoin as collateral for agreed trading products.
Earlier this year, Ripple committed $150 million in financing to LMAX Group as part of a multi-year agreement that made RLUSD available as collateral across institutional trading venues.
Why Is Ripple Prime Part of the Deal?
DriveWealth and Ripple are also examining equity-financing opportunities through Ripple Prime’s Delta One business, bringing the relationship beyond stablecoin settlement into conventional capital-markets financing.
Ripple Prime expanded into U.S. equity derivatives in August, offering institutional investors total return swaps referencing U.S. stocks, indexes and digital assets. The business sits alongside Ripple’s broader prime brokerage, clearing and financing operations.
Ripple Prime separately secured a $200 million asset-based debt facility earlier this year to increase its institutional margin-lending capacity across traditional and digital asset markets.
No specific financing products between Ripple Prime and DriveWealth have yet been announced, making that part of the partnership exploratory rather than operational.
Investor Takeaway
RLUSD is moving beyond payments toward collateral and brokerage plumbing, where institutional adoption depends more on capital efficiency than retail stablecoin usage.
What Does the European Rollout Test?
Europe will provide the first test of whether stablecoin settlement can materially improve funding efficiency inside a brokerage platform rather than simply accelerate a standalone crypto transfer.
The potential benefit comes from connecting several stages of the process: a partner sends funds across borders, RLUSD moves on blockchain rails, collateral becomes available to the brokerage account and the stablecoin can be converted into cash as required for securities activity.
The companies have not disclosed transaction volumes, participating DriveWealth clients or a timetable for the planned U.S. expansion. Those details will determine whether the integration develops into a material settlement channel or remains an additional funding option alongside bank wires.
DriveWealth and Ripple are scheduled to discuss the partnership at Ripple Swell in New York on October 28. The next question is therefore not whether RLUSD can move around the clock, but whether regulated brokerage infrastructure can use that availability to reduce the cash buffers and settlement delays that persist around increasingly continuous markets.
