- Ripple will use its financial muscle to capitalize Hidden Road’s prime brokerage, clearing, and financing platform
- The Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin will help power cross-margining between digital assets and traditional markets.
- Hidden Road is set to migrate post-trade activity across the XRP Ledger (XRPL).
Ripple, a leader in digital asset infrastructure for financial institutions, has announced its acquisition of Hidden Road, a rapidly growing global prime broker, for $1.25 billion.
According to a press release Ripple issued on April 8, the deal is one of the largest in the digital assets sector and positions the XRP and Ripple USD (RLUSD) creator as the first crypto company to fully own and operate a multi-asset prime brokerage.
Ripple sees the deal as a significant step toward bridging traditional finance and decentralized finance (DeFi).
“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,” Marc Asch, founder and chief executive officer of Hidden Road, said.
Asch added:
”Together with Ripple, we’re bringing the same level of trust and reliability that institutional clients are accustomed to in traditional markets — designed and optimized for a digital world.”
What Ripple’s Hidden Road deal means
Hidden Road has established itself as a powerhouse in the prime brokerage space, clearing an impressive $3 trillion annually across markets and serving over 300 top institutional clients.
Its comprehensive suite of services—including clearing, financing, and prime brokerage across foreign exchange (FX), digital assets, derivatives, swaps, and fixed income—has made it a one-stop shop for institutions navigating both traditional and emerging markets.
With Ripple’s acquisition, Hidden Road gains access to the crypto giant’s robust balance sheet, paving the way for it to scale its operations and aim to become the largest non-bank prime broker globally.
In a comment, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said:
“We are at an inflection point for the next phase of digital asset adoption,” he said. “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.”
Garlinghouse highlighted Ripple’s intent to leverage its strengths, including the XRP cryptocurrency, to drive transformation in the digital asset space and enhance its existing solutions.
RLUSD integration
The acquisition also amplifies the utility of Ripple USD, the company’s US dollar-backed stablecoin. Recently, the company added RLUSD to Ripple Payments.
Now Hidden Road will integrate RLUSD as collateral across its prime brokerage offerings, enabling efficient cross-margining between digital assets and traditional markets.
Ripple expects to close the deal in the coming months, subject to regulatory approval.
It adds to a growing list of acquisitions for the XRP company, with some of these including Metaco, Standard Custody, and Fortress Trust.
