Ripple has completed its acquisition of non-bank prime broker Hidden Road, rebranding the company to Ripple Prime, marking one of the company’s most significant deals to date and significantly expanding its business beyond the digital asset sector.
Ripple said it has become the first crypto company to own and operate a multi-asset prime brokerage, covering everything from clearing, lending and brokerage across digital assets, derivatives, swaps, foreign exchange and institutional fixed income products.
Ripple added on Friday that Ripple Prime’s business activity has already tripled since the $1.25 billion acquisition was announced in early April, and further growth is expected from new and existing customers.
Ripple is one of several crypto-native companies that have bridged TradFi into the digital asset space by integrating blockchain and crypto products for banks to conduct cross-border transactions and other financial operations.
Ripple wants to put new businesses on blockchain rails
Ripple, the issuer of the cryptocurrency XRP (XRP), said its new business will “significantly enhance the utility and reach” of its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin.
“Ripple’s underlying digital asset infrastructure spanning payments, crypto custody, stablecoins, and use of XRP will complement the services offered within Ripple Prime.”
In the future, Ripple also plans to integrate blockchain functionality into Ripple Prime to streamline operations and optimize costs.
RLUSD is expected to play a key role in that transition, with Ripple noting that some derivatives customers are already choosing to hold balances in USD stablecoins, which are also used as collateral for some prime brokerage products.
Ripple is making acquisitions
This comes after Ripple acquired financial management system provider GTreasury last Thursday and stablecoin-based payments platform Rail in August.
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These deals build on the acquisitions of Standard Custody in June 2024 and Metaco in June 2023, making them the sixth strategic transaction in 28 months as part of Ripple’s broader push to provide blockchain and crypto products to institutions.
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