Ripple is set to acquire global prime brokerage platform Hidden Road for $1.25 billion.
According to an April 8 statement, this acquisition makes Ripple the first crypto-native firm to own and operate a multi-asset prime broker with an established institutional network.
Ripple noted that the deal will deepen its institutional service offerings and build a direct bridge between traditional financial markets and blockchain-powered ecosystems.
Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple CEO, stated that the deal represents one of the largest ever in the crypto space. However, he pointed out that:
“The price tag isn’t what’s most important – it’s that this deal marks a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for crypto to access the largest and most trusted traditional markets, and vice versa.”
Hidden Road offers institutional clients several services, including trade clearing, prime brokerage, and financing. These services include foreign exchange, digital assets, derivatives, fixed income, and swaps.
Ripple sees this infrastructure as a critical step toward accelerating institutional adoption of blockchain-powered financial tools.
How Ripple will integrate with Hidden Road
Ripple plans to integrate its enterprise-grade stablecoin, RLUSD, into Hidden Road’s brokerage services as part of the deal.
RLUSD will serve as collateral for cross-margining between crypto and traditional instruments, making it the first stablecoin to support such utility at scale.
Also, Hidden Road will leverage XRP and the XRP Ledger (XRPL) to streamline trade settlement. This setup is expected to cut settlement times from hours to minutes and significantly reduce operational costs.
Garlinghouse said:
“Instead of waiting for <24 hours to settle trades through fiat rails, Hidden Road will be using XRPL for clearing a portion of trades, and most consequentially, using RLUSD as collateral across its prime brokerage services, including cross-asset (crypto and traditional instrument) trades.”
Ripple believes this move will showcase the ledger’s ability to power enterprise-grade decentralized finance solutions.
Beyond prime brokerage, Ripple expects to strengthen its cross-border payment services and offer advanced custody solutions to institutional clients through the acquisition. The goal is to deliver secure, cost-effective tools that bridge the gap between digital and traditional finance at scale.
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