Ripple acquires Hidden Road for USD $1.25 billion deal

Ripple has announced its acquisition of Hidden Road for USD $1.25 billion, marking a significant transaction in the digital assets sector.

This acquisition makes Ripple the first cryptocurrency firm to own and manage a global, multi-asset prime broker, integrating Hidden Road's offerings into its operations.

Hidden Road is known for its comprehensive services, including clearing, prime brokerage, and financing across various financial sectors such as foreign exchange, digital assets, derivatives, swaps, and fixed income.

The integration with Ripple promises to offer institutional customers access to digital assets at scale, merging traditional and decentralised finance. Hidden Road plans to utilise Ripple's stablecoin, RLUSD, as collateral, marking it as the first stablecoin to facilitate efficient cross-margining between digital and traditional asset markets.

Brad Garlinghouse, Chief Executive Officer of Ripple, stated, "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 position and the strengths of XRP to accelerate our business and enhance our current solutions and technology."

Hidden Road, which clears USD $3 trillion annually and serves over 300 institutional customers, is set to expand its services further with Ripple's support. This expansion aligns with Ripple's intention to enhance digital asset adoption by providing the necessary infrastructure and credibility similar to those in traditional finance.

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. Together with Ripple, we're bringing the same level of trust and reliability that institutional clients are accustomed to in traditional markets — designed and optimised for a digital world."

The acquisition also underscores the strength of Ripple's USD-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, reinforcing its utility as it becomes embedded into Hidden Road's collateral framework. Additionally, Hidden Road will begin migrating its post-trade activities to the XRP Ledger, which is expected to streamline processes and reduce operational costs.

Ripple envisages this move as an opportunity to improve efficiencies in its Ripple Payments solution and to offer critical digital asset custody services to Hidden Road's clients, who require bank-grade protections for their assets.

With over a decade of experience in the digital asset space and more than 60 regulatory licenses and registrations, Ripple aims to continue its traction in expanding institutional adoption of digital currencies. The completion of the acquisition remains contingent on acquiring necessary regulatory approvals in the coming months.