Ripple Acquires Hidden Road for $1.25 Billion, Expands Institutional Digital Asset Services

Ripple, a leading provider of digital asset infrastructure for financial institutions, has announced its acquisition of Hidden Road, a prominent prime broker, for $1.25 billion. This acquisition is one of the largest in the digital assets space and positions Ripple as the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker. Hidden Road offers a comprehensive suite of services, including clearing, prime brokerage, and financing across various asset classes such as foreign exchange, digital assets, derivatives, swaps, and fixed income.

The acquisition is strategically significant as it aligns with Ripple's goal to facilitate institutional adoption of digital assets. Prime brokers play a crucial role in bringing the necessary credibility and professional trading services expected in traditional finance to the digital asset space. By integrating Hidden Road's capabilities, Ripple aims to bridge the gap between traditional finance and decentralized finance, providing institutional customers with scalable solutions that meet their needs.

Hidden Road, known for its strong business model, clears $3 trillion annually across markets and serves over 300 top institutional customers. With Ripple's substantial financial backing, Hidden Road will significantly expand its capacity to service its growing pipeline, positioning itself as one of the largest non-bank prime brokers globally. This expansion will enable Hidden Road to increase its customer base, introduce new products, and service additional markets and asset classes.

The acquisition also reinforces Ripple USD's (RLUSD) position as an enterprise-grade USD-backed stablecoin. Hidden Road will leverage RLUSD as collateral across its prime brokerage products, making it the first stablecoin to enable efficient cross-margining between digital assets and traditional markets. This move underscores RLUSD's utility and strengthens its position in the stablecoin market.

Furthermore, Hidden Road will migrate its post-trade activity to the XRP Ledger (XRPL), demonstrating XRPL's potential as the go-to blockchain for institutional decentralized finance (DeFi). This migration is expected to streamline operations and lower costs, optimizing Ripple's cross-border payments solution and providing critical custody services to Hidden Road's customers.

Ripple's CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, highlighted the strategic importance of this acquisition, stating that the U.S. market is now effectively open for digital asset adoption due to the regulatory overhang of the former SEC coming to an end. With this tailwind, Ripple is poised to leverage its position and the strengths of XRP to accelerate its business and enhance its current solutions and technology.

Marc Asch, Founder and CEO of Hidden Road, expressed optimism about the deal, noting that the new resources, licenses, and added risk capital will unlock significant growth for Hidden Road. Together with Ripple, Hidden Road aims to bring the same level of trust and reliability that institutional clients are accustomed to in traditional markets, designed and optimized for a digital world.

The deal is expected to close in the coming months, subject to regulatory approvals. Ripple, with over a decade of experience in the digital asset space and holding 60+ regulatory licenses and registrations, is well-positioned to provide the core services that financial institutions need to tokenize, store, exchange, and move digital assets. This acquisition further solidifies Ripple's leadership in the digital asset infrastructure space, paving the way for the next phase of digital asset adoption.