Ripple, a digital asset infrastructure provider, announced it is acquiring Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, marking one of the largest transactions in the digital asset space. With this move, Ripple became the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker. Hidden Road clears $3 trillion annually across markets, serving more than 300 top institutional customers. Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, said, "We are at an inflection point for the next phase of digital asset adoption. The U.S. 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."
Additionally, the acquisition reinforces Ripple USD's position as an enterprise-grade USD-backed stablecoin. Hidden Road will leverage as collateral across its prime brokerage products, enabling efficient cross-margining between digital assets and traditional markets. Moreover, Hidden Road will migrate its post-trade activities onto XRP to streamline operations and reduce costs. Ripple also aims to improve liquidity for Ripple Payments and provide critical digital asset custody services to Hidden Road’s institutional customers. Marc Asch, Founder and CEO of Hidden Road, stated, "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." The deal is expected to close once regulatory approvals are obtained.
