Ripple is acquiring the crypto-friendly prime broker Hidden Road in one of the largest deals in the digital asset space. The deal makes Ripple the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker.
With the deal, Ripple and Hidden Road are “bringing the promise of digital assets to institutional customers at scale, bridging traditional finance and decentralized finance.”
Scaling Digital Assets to Institutional Customers
The blockchain-based payments network Ripple announced the acquisition of prime broker Hidden Road in a $1.25 billion deal. In one of the largest deals in the digital asset industry, Ripple will become the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker.
According to the announcement, Hidden Road is one of the fastest-growing prime brokers in the world, “offering institutions a one-stop-shop of advanced services including clearing, prime brokerage, and financing across foreign exchange (FX), digital assets, derivatives, swaps, and fixed income.”
Hidden Road clears over $3 trillion annually across more than 300 top institution customers, and when the deal closes, it positions Ripple as the world’s largest non-bank prime broker. Ripple is the leading provider of digital asset infrastructure for financial institutions. This deal will inject billions in capital to provide immediate scale and satisfy the high demand for Hidden Road’s prime brokerage, clearing, and financing platform.
In its announcement, Ripple explained that core infrastructure must be in place for institutional adoption to ensure the crypto industry’s future growth and viability, and prime brokers bring the necessary credibility and professional trading services from legacy finance to digital assets.
When the landmark deal closes, Ripple and Hidden Road will bring “the promise of digital assets to institutional customers at scale, bridging traditional finance and decentralized finance.”
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, commented on the announcement, saying:
“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.”
Garlinghouse added:
“With these tailwinds, we are continuing to pursue opportunities to massively transform the space, leveraging our unique position and strengths of XRP to accelerate our business and enhance our current solutions and technology.”
Additional Details of the Deal
The deal also underscores the importance of Ripple’s newly launched RLUSD stablecoin. The acquisition reinforces RLUSD’s position as an enterprise-grade USD-backed stablecoin with real utility as Hidden Road leverages RLUSD as collateral across its prime brokerage products. The deal closure will position RLUSD as the first stablecoin to enable efficient cross-margining between the digital asset space and traditional markets.
As part of the deal, Hidden Road will migrate its post-trade activity across XRPL to streamline operations and reduce costs to showcase XRLP’s potential to be the “go-to blockchain” for institutional decentralized finance (DeFi). Ripple also explained that it recognizes the potential to optimize costs and liquidity in its cross-border payments solution, Ripple Payments. Ripple further sees the potential to offer critical custody services to Hidden Road’s customers who need bank-grade digital asset custody.
Marc Asch, Founder and CEO of Hidden Road, commented:
“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 optimized for a digital world.”
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
Source: https://cryptodaily.co.uk/2025/04/crypto-firm-ripple-acquires-prime-broker-hidden-road-in-a-massive-125b-deal