- Ripple‘s new acquisition, Hidden Road, has launched cryptocurrency swaps for U.S. institutional investors.
- The swaps are cash-settled over-the-counter (OTC) transactions involving major cryptocurrencies.
- The product is provided through Hidden Road Partners, regulated by the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority.
- The announcement comes after Ripple revealed a $1.25 billion deal to acquire Hidden Road in April.
- Hidden Road recently received regulatory approvals in both the United States and Europe.
Hidden Road, recently acquired by Ripple, has begun offering cryptocurrency swaps to U.S. institutional investors. The new service allows clients to carry out cash-settled, over-the-counter swaps across several major crypto assets.
Hidden Road Partners, governed by the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, announced the launch on May 28. The new platform enables large institutions to directly trade cryptocurrencies without impacting exchange prices.
Global CEO Michael Higgins of Hidden Road said OTC swaps make up a substantial share of the global digital asset trading market, but have been mostly unavailable to U.S. institutions. “The United States digital asset market has long been underserved from a product standpoint,” Higgins said. No specific figures were given for U.S. OTC volume, but a January 2024 report noted that global institutional OTC volumes rose 106% last year.
In December 2024, Higgins pointed to increased demand from large institutions needing reliable trading platforms as digital assets and traditional finance converge. “Servicing them [institutional investors] across traditional finance and digital asset ecosystems that have already converged presents a really unique opportunity for us in the marketplace,” he said in an interview with Finance Magnates.
The launch of OTC swaps is one of the first products introduced by Hidden Road since the company agreed to be acquired by Ripple. Shortly after the deal, Hidden Road received a broker-dealer license from the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
The firm also became one of the first to secure a Netherlands-entity-secures-micar-license/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) license in Europe, after the framework began on December 30, 2024, as announced by the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets.
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