Ripple leaps into TradFi with $1.25bn acquisition of Hidden Road

By Gloria Methri

Ripple has announced the $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road, marking one of the largest deals in the digital asset space. With this move, Ripple becomes the first crypto firm to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker.

Hidden Road, a rapidly growing institutional prime broker, clears over $3 trillion annually and serves more than 300 clients across FX, digital assets, derivatives, swaps, and fixed income. The acquisition gives Ripple an edge in bridging traditional finance and digital assets, providing institutional clients with the credibility and infrastructure expected in legacy markets.

Backed by Ripple’s strong balance sheet, Hidden Road is set to scale its services and solidify its position as one of the world’s largest non-bank prime brokers.

“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,” said Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple. “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.”

The deal also reinforces Ripple USD (RLUSD) as an enterprise-grade, USD-backed stablecoin with real-world utility. Hidden Road will use RLUSD as collateral across its prime brokerage offerings, making it the first stablecoin to enable efficient cross-margining between traditional finance and the digital asset space.

Additionally, Hidden Road will migrate post-trade operations to XRPL, showcasing its ability to streamline institutional DeFi activity. Ripple also plans to leverage this integration to enhance its cross-border payment solution, Ripple Payments, while offering bank-grade custody solutions to Hidden Road’s client base.

“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,” said Marc Asch, Founder and CEO of Hidden Road. ”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.”