Ripple completes its acquisition of Hidden Road

Stablecoin issuer and cross-border payment platform Ripple has completed its acquisition of Hidden Road to launch Ripple Prime, the first global multi-asset prime broker owned by a crypto company. 

According to the company’s press statement published Friday, Ripple first announced its plan to acquire the global credit network in early April. The firm believes Hidden Road is one of the fastest-growing non-bank prime brokers serving institutional investors in foreign exchange, digital assets, derivatives, swaps, and fixed income markets. 

The acquisition was reportedly finalized this month, making Hidden Road officially part of Ripple’s ecosystem under the new name Ripple Prime.

Ripple opens new brokerage chapter with Hidden Road acquisition

Ripple said the transaction is a “new chapter” for the company as it extends its reach beyond payments into institutional brokerage and clearing services. According to Ripple, Ripple Prime’s business has tripled in size since the deal was first announced. 

The XRP parent company’s infrastructure, including its payments network, crypto custody capabilities, and RLUSD stablecoin, will now be embedded into services offered through Ripple Prime.

Moreover, the firm plans to use blockchain technology within its prime brokerage operations to streamline processes, improve transparency, and reduce costs for institutional users. 

Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD is already being used as collateral for several prime brokerage products under Ripple Prime. Certain derivatives clients have also opted to hold their balances in RLUSD, and the firm expects more entities to pick up on the trend in the coming months.

Hidden Road Founder and CEO Marc Asch will be working alongside Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and the company’s executive team throughout the integration process. 

“We are at an inflection point for the next phase of digital asset adoption,” Garlinghouse said when the deal was first announced. “The US market is effectively open for the first time due to the regulatory overhang of the former SEC coming to an end.”

A year of company acquisitions to expand its reach

The Hidden Road deal is one of five major acquisitions Ripple has made in the past two years, in what can be deemed as an aggressive expansion strategy to solidify its base. In May 2023, Ripple acquired digital asset custody firm Metaco, followed by the purchase of Standard Custody in June 2024.

The company expanded its operations further in August with the acquisition of Rail, a stablecoin-powered payments platform. Just last week, Ripple announced plans to acquire treasury management system provider GTreasury. 

“We have focused on providing the most compliant and feature-rich solutions to corporations around the globe. Now, by joining Ripple, we are accelerating our vision from managing capital to activating it,” remarked GTreasury CEO Renaat Ver Eecke.

As of the time of this publication, Ripple USD had reached a market cap of $898.5 million, with a 24-hour trading volume of more than $70 million, according to Coingecko data.

The stablecoin was rated the number one digital dollar for “stability, governance, and asset backing” by the analytics firm Bluechip in July, earning an ‘A’ rating. Ripple appointed The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BNY Mellon) as its primary reserve custodian for RLUSD.

Evernorth goes public via SPAC Merger

In other related news this week, a company holding the cryptocurrency associated with the Ripple payment network XRP, revealed it could soon go public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Evernorth plans to merge with Armada Acquisition Corp II in a deal expected to raise more than $1 billion in proceeds.

According to a statement released Monday, Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings Inc. contributed $200 million to the deal, while Ripple Labs made an unspecified investment. 

The firm founded after the SPAC Merger will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker “XRPN,” pending regulatory and listing approvals yet to be confirmed.

XRP has started the weekend on a positive note, changing hands at a 5.2% 24-hour price increase to reach $2.56 Saturday morning. The Ripple native token closed Friday at $2.405, recording an intraday high of $2.57 and a low of $2.401.

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