Ripple Hidden Broker Deal: What To Know About This $1.25B Acquisition

In a major XRP news, crypto firm Ripple has announced plans to acquire prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion. The XRP price surged on the back of this announcement, with the deal one of the largest in the crypto industry.

XRP News: Ripple To Acquire Hidden Road For $1.25 Billion

In a press release, Ripple announced that it will acquire Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, one of the largest deals in crypto history. The firm noted that with this acquisition, it will become the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker.

Hidden Road is a fast-growing prime broker offering institutions a one-stop shop of services, including clearing, prime brokerage, and financing across foreign exchange (FX), digital assets, derivatives, swaps, and fixed income. Meanwhile, this news comes just as the first XRP ETF went live in the US.

Furthermore, the crypto firm noted that it is important that a core infrastructure is in place for institutional adoption for the industry to achieve the next phase of growth. This is where prime brokers come in, as they bring the necessary credibility and professional trading services in legacy finance to the digital assets space.

As such, Ripple, alongside Hidden Road, plans to bring the promise of digital assets to institutional customers at scale, bridging traditional finance and decentralized finance (DeFi). Although not mentioned in the release, Fortune reported that the crypto firm will settle this acquisition primarily in cash, XRP tokens, and company stocks.

Commenting on the proposed acquisition, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said,

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 unique position and strengths of XRP to accelerate our business and enhance our current solutions and technology.”

The Impact On The Hidden Road Deal In The Firm’s Ecosystem

As part of the release, Ripple also stated that this Hidden Road acquisition reinforces the company’s RLUSD’s position as an “enterprise-grade USD-backed stablecoin with real utility” as the prime broker leverages the stablecoin as collateral across its prime brokerage products.

The company asserted that this move will make RLUSD the first stablecoin to enable efficient cross-margining between the digital asset space and traditional markets. It is worth mentioning that Ripple Labs also recently integrated the RLUSD stablecoin into its payment services.

Meanwhile, as part of this deal, Hidden Road will migrate its post-trade activity across the XRP Ledger (XRPL) to streamline operations and lower costs, further positioning the blockchain as the go-to for institutional DeFi.

Ripple also plans to use the acquisition to optimize costs and liquidity in its cross-border payments solution while providing custody services to Hidden Road’s customers who need “bank-grade” digital asset custody.

The deal will close in the coming months, subject to regulatory approvals. The XRP price surged following the announcement and is looking to reclaim the $2 level as support.