Ripple Acquires Hidden Road for $1.25 Billion, Expands Institutional Finance Reach U.S. Justice Department Shifts Crypto Enforcement Focus, Closes NCET BlackRock Selects Anchorage Digital for Crypto Custody Services

The U.S. Department of Justice has closed its National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), a unit established to monitor and enforce regulations against illicit crypto activities. This decision, outlined in a memo from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, signifies a shift in the department's priorities. Moving forward, digital asset-related investigations will be managed by U.S. attorneys' offices nationwide, with a focus on crimes related to terrorism, drug trafficking, hacking, and organized crime. Prosecutors are instructed to close ongoing crypto cases that do not align with these new priorities, marking a departure from the previous administration's approach, which relied heavily on criminal enforcement to shape policy in the rapidly growing crypto industry. The memo also directs prosecutors to avoid charging exchanges or wallet services unless there is clear evidence of deliberate violations of the law. Additionally, the Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit will cease all crypto enforcement activities.

Ripple has announced its acquisition of prime brokerage firm Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, marking one of the largest acquisitions in the digital asset industry to date. Hidden Road clears over $3 trillion annually in foreign exchange, derivatives, digital assets, and fixed income markets. This acquisition signals Ripple's intention to deepen its involvement in institutional finance, particularly as the U.S. market shows signs of regulatory easing. Ripple plans to invest capital into Hidden Road to expand its prime brokerage and financing operations, aiming to make it the largest non-bank prime broker globally. Additionally, Hidden Road intends to migrate its post-trade operations to the XRP Ledger, seeking to reduce settlement costs and highlight the XRPL’s institutional DeFi capabilities.

BlackRock has selected Anchorage Digital, the only federally chartered crypto bank in the U.S., to handle custody for a portion of its digital asset portfolio. Anchorage will provide crypto custody, staking, and settlement services. It already supports BlackRock’s $2 billion tokenized fund BUIDL, which is backed by short-term U.S. Treasurys. While Anchorage will manage part of BlackRock’s crypto custody, Coinbase remains the custodian for the Bitcoin in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF.