Company Ripple, which recently won a legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the acquisition of Hidden Road, a multi-asset prime brokerage, for $1.25 billion. The deal was one of the largest in the digital asset sector this year and the second deal made by a cryptocurrency company in 2025. In the first place is the exchange, Kraken acquires NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion.
The transaction between Ripple and Hidden Road is expected to be finalized in the coming months after receiving the necessary regulatory approvals.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said that the US market has opened up to digital assets thanks to the conclusion of the SEC lawsuit. He emphasized that the market has finally matured to meet the needs of traditional financial institutions.
Hidden Road processes $3 trillion in transactions annually and serves more than 300 institutional clients. The acquisition will allow Hidden Road to rapidly expand its operations with the support of Ripple’s resources, with the goal of becoming the largest non-bank prime brokerage in the world. In addition, Ripple will become the only cryptocurrency company to own and operate a global multi-asset prime broker.
The deal will also strengthen the position of Ripple stablecoin RLUSD, the US dollar-pegged currency that Hidden Road uses as collateral in its brokerage products. This will make Ripple a serious competitor for leading stablecoin providers such as Tether and USD Coin.
Source: Ripple