Ripple Buys Hidden Road for $1.25B to Connect Conventional Finance with Crypto

Tags: ripple

Key Takeaways:

• Becoming the first crypto company to control a worldwide multi-asset prime broker, Ripple is buying Hidden Road for $1.25 billion.
• The purchase will include RLUSD as the first stablecoin allowing cross-margining between crypto and conventional markets and increase institutional access to digital assets.
• Hidden Road will move post-trade processes to XRPL, hence increasing its use in institutional DeFi and crypto-native clearing.

In one of the biggest M&A transactions in the digital assets sector to date, Ripple has said it will buy Hidden Road, a top-tier worldwide prime broker, for $1.25 billion.  The purchase provides Ripple complete ownership and operational control over a top supplier of clearing, financing, and brokerage services across several asset classes, including digital assets.

The action signals a significant jump for Ripple, which will be able to provide strong institutional infrastructure for crypto markets and close the gap between traditional finance and decentralized finance (DeFi).  Pending regulatory clearances, the agreement is anticipated to finalize in the next months.

A Significant Move Toward Institutional-Grade Crypto Infrastructure

Hidden Road’s purchase lets Ripple provide institutional clients a reliable intermediary model previously known to hedge funds, OTC desks, and quantitative traders.  Hidden Road now clears over $3 trillion in annual trading volume across more than 300 top-tier universities.

 Ripple’s financial support will help Hidden Road to greatly increase its capacity and hopes to be the biggest non-bank prime broker in the world.  By increasing its product portfolio and including RLUSD—Ripple’s enterprise-grade USD-backed stablecoin—directly into prime brokerage operations, the transaction also let Ripple strengthen its value proposition in the institutional crypto sector.

Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, said, “We’re reaching an inflection point where institutional use of crypto is gathering speed.  This purchase allows Ripple to finally provide the volume and quality of services conventional banking demands while opening the next stage of expansion for the digital asset market.

RLUSD: Cross-Margining for Crypto and Traditional Markets

Hidden Road’s services will include RLUSD, a feature of the transaction.   RLUSD, a stablecoin first, will be collateral for prime brokerage activities, enabling digital asset-conventional security cross-margining.

Institutional customers can now access liquidity, hedge positions, and better control capital without slower fiat settlement railroads.   The result is a fluid consumer experience across asset classes. A Ripple spokesman said “RLUSD is not just another stablecoin.”   Directly integrated into major financial infrastructure.   We’re using stablecoins beyond DeFi

Post-Trade and Institutional DeFi XRPL Adoption

The agreement also includes Hidden Road’s migration to Ripple’s own blockchain, the XRP Ledger (XRPL), for post-trade activity.   The transfer highlights XRPL’s high-throughput, low-cost, and scalable blockchain network for institutional DeFi.

Hidden Road will save money and improve settlement efficiency by switching to XRPL.   Ripple plans to maximize cross-border payment flows and custody services for institutional customers using the blockchain. This supports Ripple’s goal of building institutional-grade decentralized financial infrastructure on XRPL.

Ripple’s Expanding Institutional Strategy 

Ripple has been aggressively increasing its institutional presence.  With more than 60 regulatory licenses spread across several jurisdictions, the firm has more than ten years of expertise in digital asset compliance, settlement, and infrastructure.

Ripple has been a long-time client and was already involved in Hidden Road’s Series B fundraising round.  This knowledge allowed Ripple to trust Hidden Road’s risk management and operational controls, therefore opening the road for a complete purchase.

Hidden Road CEO Marc Asch stated, “Ripple’s resources and network put us in a good position to scale quickly, enter new markets, and provide customers a smooth mix of digital and conventional asset exposure.”

A Turning Point for Prime Brokerage in Cryptocurrency

The purchase puts Ripple and Hidden Road in a position to provide what the crypto sector has long lacked: premier brokerage services with institutional legitimacy.  Traditional financial actors are used to dealing with intermediaries providing loan, margin, clearing, and custody—roles banks have historically performed.

This purchase allows Ripple to move that concept into the cryptocurrency age. More significantly, the agreement could spur a larger movement toward institutional adoption of crypto-native infrastructure, leveraging assets like XRP and RLUSD to provide quicker, more affordable financial flows.

Ripple’s strategic combination of stablecoins, blockchain settlement, and conventional market access might serve as the model for how digital assets go mainstream—not only as investment vehicles but also as instruments altering the operation of world finance.