In one of the largest deals in the cryptocurrency industry's history, Ripple is acquiring global credit network Hidden Road for $1.25 billion. This will make the former the first crypto company to own a global, multi-asset prime broker, according to a press release . Hidden Road clears $3 trillion annually across markets and serves more than 300 institutional customers, per the release — which states that "with the backing of Ripple's significant balance sheet, Hidden Road will exponentially expand its capacity to service its pipeline and become one of the largest non-bank prime brokers globally." Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse claims that the industry is "at an inflection point for the next phase of digital asset adoption," citing the United States market being "effectively open for the first time" following a wave of pro-crypto regulatory movements from the Trump administration. "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," he added. Ripple views the acquisition as an additional means of strengthening its USD-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, with "real utility" since Hidden Road leverages it as collateral. "This will make RLUSD the first stablecoin to enable efficient cross-margining between the digital asset space and traditional markets," the release states. Ripple will also use the acquisition to strengthen XRPL — with Hidden Road migrating its post-trade activity to the product — as well as Ripple Payments. "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," said Hidden Road's founder and CEO, Marc Asch. Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures . © 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.