Ripple has acquired crypto-friendly prime brokerage Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, marking one of the largest deals in the crypto industry's history.
The blockchain technology firm is aiming to use Hidden Road's platform to serve a wide range of institutional clients on a bigger scale, according to a company Statement Published on Tuesday
“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,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said Tuesday in a statement.
Ripple's latest acquisition comes amid financial institutions’ growing interest in digital asset-backed products and services, driven by U.S. regulators’ reduced oversight of the crypto industry.
A recent EY Parthenon Poll Of 352 respondents, 86% reported that they have digital assets and/or plan to allocate crypto in the future. CoinShares reported that institutional investors managing more than 100 million dollars invested $27.4 Billion in Bitcoin ETFs. This is an 114% increase from their previous holdings. shows.
Hidden Road, founded in 2018, offers an array of services aimed at institutional clients. This includes securities lending and cash management services, as well as custodial, settlement and transaction finance. According to their own data, the company clears $3 trillion annually across multiple markets. They also have over 300 clients who are institutional.
Ripple can also be integrated. Ripple, the stablecoin Ripple Dollar into Hidden Road, using the token as collateral across the prime brokerage's products. Integration may provide RLUSD with a competitive edge on a crowded crypto market.
It also coincides with a surge in mergers and purchases across the entire crypto sector, just before the Trump Administration implements trade tariffs that cast doubts on the global economic situation.
Kraken revealed its plans last month. acquire futures trading platform NinjaTrader The largest crypto deal in history would amount to $1.5 billion.
According to the report, sixty-two cryptocurrency mergers and acquisitions took place in the first quarter of 2019. This is up by 8% from the 59 transactions reported during the fourth quarter last year. And 87% when compared with the 33 deals recorded in the third quarter 2024. Architect Partners is a leading advisory firm.
James Rubin, Editor
