- Ripple has finalized the acquisition of global prime broker Hidden Road, now renamed Ripple Prime.
- Ripple Prime’s business has grown threefold since the initial announcement, serving over 300 institutional clients with more than $3 trillion cleared across markets.
- Ripple Prime offers a range of services including trading, financing, and clearing across digital assets, Forex, derivatives, fixed income, and precious metals.
- The unit integrates Ripple’s U.S. dollar stablecoin, RLUSD, which some clients already use as collateral for prime brokerage products.
- The acquisition positions Ripple as the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker.
Ripple has completed its purchase of global prime broker Hidden Road and rebranded the business as Ripple Prime, an integrated trading, financing, and clearing desk aimed at institutional clients. The announcement was made on Friday.
Since the initial acquisition announcement on April 8, Ripple Prime’s business has tripled in size. The service now supports more than 300 institutional customers and has processed over $3 trillion in cleared transactions across multiple markets.
Ripple Prime provides a broad set of services that cover digital assets, foreign exchange, exchange-traded derivatives, over-the-counter swaps, fixed income clearing, repos, and precious metals. The platform complies with SOC 2 Type II standards and includes real-time risk management and cross-margining for greater efficiency.
A prime broker acts as a single point of contact for funds and market makers, consolidating access to multiple exchanges, lenders, and custodians. This reduces operational friction and improves balance sheet efficiency. Ripple Prime applies this model to digital assets alongside traditional markets like forex and derivatives.
The acquisition, valued at $1.25 billion in April, makes Ripple the first crypto-native company to operate a global, multi-asset prime brokerage platform. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated at the time, “We are at an inflection point for the next phase of digital asset adoption.” Hidden Road’s founder Marc Asch added that the merger would “unlock significant growth” by enhancing licenses and risk capital.
The new brokerage unit will expand the use of RLUSD, Ripple’s U.S. dollar stablecoin. Several derivatives clients already hold balances in RLUSD and use it as collateral. RLUSD’s primary reserve custodian is BNY Mellon, and it holds an “A” rating from Bluechip for stability, governance, and asset backing as of July 2024.
This move broadens Ripple’s institutional offerings beyond payments and custody into comprehensive broker-dealer services. The extent of institutional asset migration depends on client demand, market conditions, and how Ripple Prime competes with existing prime brokers in crypto and forex. The main appeal is a single platform for market access, financing, risk management, and the option to use a company-issued stablecoin as collateral.
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