Ripple Acquires Prime Brokerage Hidden Road in $1.25 Billion Deal

Ripple has announced that it will acquire Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, marking one of the largest acquisitions in the digital asset sector. The transaction positions Ripple as the first cryptocurrency company to own and operate a global multi-asset prime broker.

Hidden Road, known for its rapid expansion and institutional focus, clears more than $3 trillion annually across foreign exchange, digital assets, fixed income, swaps, and derivatives. The company serves over 300 institutional clients. Ripple said that the acquisition will allow Hidden Road to scale operations further and offer expanded access to prime brokerage and clearing services in both traditional and digital asset markets.

“We are at an inflection point for the next phase of digital asset adoption”

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, commented, “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 position and the strengths of XRP to accelerate our business and enhance our current solutions and technology.”

The acquisition supports Ripple’s strategy to build institutional infrastructure that connects legacy finance with decentralized finance. It also reinforces the company’s efforts to promote RLUSD, its USD-backed stablecoin, by enabling it as cross-margin collateral within Hidden Road’s brokerage offering. Ripple said this would be the first time a stablecoin is used to bridge collateral needs between traditional and digital markets.

Hidden Road will shift its post-trade operations to the XRP Ledger (XRPL), integrating Ripple’s blockchain for lower-cost settlements and streamlined processing. Ripple noted that this migration would support institutional use cases for decentralized finance and create new liquidity efficiencies for its cross-border payments business.

Marc Asch, Founder and CEO of Hidden Road, said, “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.”

Ripple described Hidden Road as a long-standing partner and participant in its ecosystem. Ripple took part in Hidden Road’s Series B fundraising round and also uses the firm’s platform. The acquisition, subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the coming months.

Deal expands Ripple’s reach into prime brokerage

The deal expands Ripple’s reach into prime brokerage and reflects its broader effort to build digital asset services for financial institutions. The company holds more than 60 regulatory licenses and registrations and offers solutions in payments, custody, and tokenization.

Earlier this year, Hidden Road launched a fixed income platform to offer seamless access to government bonds and credit products through its unified credit network. The initiative targeted institutional investors who manage collateralized portfolios and require efficient clearing solutions across asset classes.

Ripple said the integration of RLUSD within Hidden Road’s collateral systems will serve institutional users seeking interoperability across digital and traditional finance. The company also intends to support Hidden Road clients with bank-grade digital asset custody, adding secure storage to its suite of enterprise services.

Founded over a decade ago, Ripple provides blockchain infrastructure to financial institutions seeking to tokenize, store, exchange, and move assets. Its core platform uses the XRP Ledger, which the company said was developed specifically to support low-cost, scalable financial applications.

Hidden Road operates as a conflict-free prime broker and has built its services on a modern technology stack. The firm removes layers of complexity in clearing and financing, providing a streamlined route to both digital and traditional asset markets. The addition of Ripple’s financial backing is expected to accelerate its global footprint.

The two companies said they intend to operate together while maintaining the regulatory standards that institutional investors expect. Both parties emphasized that the deal reinforces the long-term strategy of linking blockchain technology with conventional financial systems.