Ripple Acquires Prime Brokerage Firm Hidden Road for $1.25 Billion in One of the Largest Deals in Digital Asset History

Ripple has announced its acquisition of prime brokerage firm Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, marking one of the largest mergers and acquisitions in the history of the digital asset industry. As a leading provider of digital asset infrastructure for financial institutions, Ripple’s move positions it as the first crypto company to own and operate a global multi-asset prime brokerage. This groundbreaking transaction not only elevates Ripple’s standing in the crypto sector but also expands the use cases for its core products—the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin.

According to Ripple’s official press release, the acquisition comes at a pivotal moment as the digital asset industry transitions into a new phase of institutional adoption. With regulatory pressures from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) easing and market conditions maturing, the stage is set for deeper integration between traditional finance and the crypto ecosystem. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse commented, “We are at an inflection point for the next phase of digital asset adoption – the US market is effectively open for the first time due to the regulatory overhang of the former SEC coming to an end, and the market is maturing to address the needs of traditional finance. With these tailwinds, we are continuing to pursue opportunities to massively transform the space, leveraging our unique position and strengths of XRP to accelerate our business and enhance our current solutions and technology.”

Hidden Road is a rapidly growing prime brokerage firm with operations spanning multiple asset classes, including foreign exchange, digital assets, derivatives, swaps, and fixed income. The firm clears over $3 trillion in annual trading volume and serves more than 300 top-tier institutional clients. Ripple plans to inject billions of dollars in capital into Hidden Road to rapidly scale its prime brokerage, clearing, and financing platform, aiming to establish it as the world’s largest non-bank prime brokerage.

One of the key highlights of this acquisition is the practical application of Ripple USD (RLUSD), a corporate-grade USD-pegged stablecoin. RLUSD will serve as collateral within Hidden Road’s prime brokerage offerings, making it the first stablecoin to enable efficient cross-margining between digital assets and traditional markets. This innovation further solidifies RLUSD’s position as a premium stablecoin, offering institutional clients greater flexibility in capital management.

Additionally, Hidden Road plans to migrate its post-trade activities to the XRP Ledger (XRPL). Designed for fast, low-cost, and scalable transactions, XRPL’s potential in institutional decentralized finance (DeFi) will be fully realized through this integration. Ripple stated that this migration will significantly reduce operational costs and optimize transaction workflows, delivering enhanced efficiency to Hidden Road’s clients. Furthermore, Ripple aims to leverage this partnership to optimize the cost and liquidity of its cross-border payment solution, Ripple Payments, while providing Hidden Road’s clients with bank-grade digital asset custody services.

Marc Asch, founder and CEO of Hidden Road, remarked, “With new resources, licenses, and added risk capital, this deal will unlock significant growth in Hidden Road’s business, allowing us to increase capacity to our customer base, expand into new products, and service more markets and asset classes.” This collaboration not only strengthens Hidden Road’s market competitiveness but also opens the door for Ripple to enter the core circles of traditional finance.

As of 5:00 AM UTC on April 9, XRP is trading at $1.78. Although the announcement has not immediately translated into significant increases in XRP trading volume or demand due to macroeconomic uncertainties, the integration of XRPL and RLUSD into Hidden Road’s core operations is expected to substantially expand XRP’s real-world use cases. This could serve as a long-term catalyst for XRP price growth.