Ripple has announced the completion of its acquisition of Hidden Road, officially rebranding the global non-bank prime broker as Ripple Prime. This is a historic moment for the company, as it makes the payment firm the first crypto-based company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime brokerage platform.
The acquisition is also a major record that significantly expands Ripple’s institutional presence and further improves the XRP Ledger’s ecosystem through new integrations and utility for the company’s stablecoin, RLUSD.
Ripple Prime Acquisition To Boost The XRP Ledger
In a recent post on the social media platform X, Ripple announced that it has completed the acquisition of Hidden Road. The company’s acquisition of Hidden Road positions it as a pioneer in combining traditional finance with digital assets at scale.
Hidden Road is one of the fastest-growing prime brokers in the world. The company offers a range of institutional services such as clearing, financing, and brokerage across foreign exchange, digital assets, derivatives, swaps, and fixed income. Now that the rebranding to Ripple Prime is complete, the new name embodies the payment firm’s strategy to build the foundation for institutional digital asset adoption.
One of the most significant outcomes of Ripple Prime’s launch is its impact on the adoption and utility of Ripple’s stablecoin, RLUSD. According to the company’s announcement post on its website, RLUSD is now being actively used as collateral for several prime brokerage products. Derivatives clients have begun holding their balances in RLUSD, and this is expected to keep growing with institutional confidence.
Ripple emphasized that RLUSD’s regulatory compliance and governance framework have made it one of the most trusted stablecoins in the market. Earlier this year, Bluechip rated RLUSD as the number one stablecoin for stability, governance, and asset backing, assigning it an A grade.
The firm further reinforced its institutional credibility by appointing The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) as RLUSD’s primary reserve custodian. At the time of writing, RLUSD is the 12th biggest stablecoin in market cap, with a $902 million market cap, now inching towards the billion-dollar mark.
The Firm’s Expanding Institutional Footprint And Future Outlook
Ripple Prime is part of the company’s expansion strategy to capture a notable share of the global financial market. The company’s acquisition of Hidden Road makes it its fifth acquisition in two years. The acquisition trend started with the purchase of Metaco in May 2023, and then the purchase of Standard Custody in June 2024.
Since then, the payment firm has continued to strengthen its institutional offerings with acquisitions like Rail in August 2025 and GTreasury just last week. Each acquisition has been strategically done in order to upgrade Ripple and XRP’s position as the leading provider of enterprise-grade blockchain solutions.
“As we continue to build solutions towards enabling an Internet of Value – I’m reminding you all that XRP sits at the center of everything Ripple does.” CEO Brad Garlinghouse said in a post on X.
Featured image from Pxfuel, chart from Tradingview.com
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