XRP News: Ripple Set to Buy Hidden Road for $1.25B in Strategic Deal

Ripple has taken a major step forward by agreeing to acquire one of the fastest-growing prime brokerages in the world. This deal marks a big moment for the company and the crypto industry, as Ripple becomes the first crypto firm to fully own and operate a global, multi-asset prime brokerage platform.

Ripple announced it will acquire Hidden Road for $1.25 billion. This is one of the largest acquisitions in the digital asset space so far, signaling Ripple’s serious commitment to expanding its reach into traditional finance.

Ripple’s Stablecoin Steps Into the Spotlight

One of the most important aspects of this deal is the boost it gives to Ripple’s stablecoin, RLUSD. Hidden Road will now use RLUSD as collateral across its services, making it the first stablecoin to allow smooth cross-margining between crypto and traditional markets. This gives RLUSD a strong foothold in real-world financial applications.

As part of the agreement, Hidden Road will shift its post-trade operations to the XRP Ledger (XRPL). This move aims to lower costs and improve efficiency, highlighting XRPL’s value as a preferred option for institutional decentralized finance (DeFi).

Ripple also plans to improve its Ripple Payments platform by reducing costs, increasing liquidity, and offering secure, bank-grade digital asset custody to Hidden Road’s institutional clients.

Hidden Road’s Global Presence Set to Expand

Hidden Road already handles more than $3 trillion in trading volume each year for over 300 major institutions. With Ripple’s support, the firm is now set to grow even more and could soon become one of the largest non-bank prime brokers in the world. This partnership is a key step in connecting traditional finance with the decentralized world.

This is the second billion-dollar crypto deal of 2025, showing strong momentum for the digital asset industry. Under President Trump’s administration, the market is growing more optimistic about relaxed crypto regulations. Earlier in March, major crypto exchange Kraken announced a $1.5 billion deal to acquire retail futures trading platform NinjaTrader. That move allows Kraken to expand into new asset classes and grow its user base.

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Ripple Hints At Collab With Cardano

Adding more buzz, Ripple recently released a video about tokenization that included the Cardano logo. This led to speculation about a possible partnership between the two companies. The video focused on the potential of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, which could reach $18.9 trillion by 2033. While the community is excited, neither Ripple nor Cardano has confirmed any collaboration yet.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse commented on the deal, saying the crypto industry is entering a new and promising phase. For the first time, the U.S. market is becoming truly open to digital assets, as the regulatory confusion from earlier leadership begins to clear up. At the same time, the crypto space is maturing and starting to meet the standards of traditional finance.

According to Garlinghouse, this moment presents a huge opportunity for growth and mainstream adoption.