Ripple has officially completed its $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road, marking one of the company’s most strategic milestones to date. The move transforms Ripple into the first crypto firm to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker, rebranding the acquired entity as Ripple Prime.
The announcement, shared by Ripple on X, emphasized that Ripple Prime will enable institutional clients to access a broad suite of services. These will include clearing, financing, and trading across foreign exchange, derivatives, fixed income, and digital assets.
More importantly, Ripple Prime will integrate Ripple’s core technologies, including the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and the RLUSD stablecoin, creating what the company describes as a new bridge between digital and traditional finance.
Ripple noted that RLUSD is already being used as collateral for derivatives products, a sign of the growing institutional confidence in its stablecoin ecosystem. The company’s official statement highlighted that “the synergies between the two businesses made this acquisition a logical next step to support institutional adoption of digital assets.”
By embedding its payment infrastructure, custody solutions, and XRP-powered tools into the prime brokerage, Ripple aims to position itself as a central player in global liquidity and settlement systems.
TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington shares that sentiment, calling the Hidden Road acquisition the “best one so far,” noting the “incredible synergies” between the brokerage’s operations and Ripple’s stablecoin framework.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse also weighed in, reminding the community that this deal marks Ripple’s fifth major acquisition in roughly two years. Each acquisition, he said, supports Ripple’s ongoing mission to build an “Internet of Value,” with XRP as the backbone of its expanding ecosystem.
Ripple’s acquisition of Hidden Road solidifies its evolution from a payments-focused blockchain company into a comprehensive financial infrastructure powerhouse, capable of driving digital asset adoption at an institutional scale.