Ripple CEO Drops Bombshell: $1.25B Deal Shakes Crypto World!

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In a move that could only be described as audacious, Ripple has gobbled up Hidden Road for a cool $1.25 billion, a sum that would make even the most jaded crypto bros raise an eyebrow. 🤑 This acquisition, one of the largest in the digital asset industry, catapults Ripple into the rarefied air of being the first cryptocurrency company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker. Because, of course, why not?

Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s ever-enthusiastic CEO, took to Twitter to announce the deal, calling it “one of the largest ever in the crypto space.” Because when you spend $1.25 billion, you might as well brag about it, right? 🐦

Today, @Ripple announced the acquisition of Hidden Road for $1.25B, one of the largest deals ever in the crypto space. But the price tag isn’t what’s most important – it’s that this deal marks a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for crypto to access the largest and most trusted…

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) April 8, 2025

Garlinghouse, ever the optimist, added that this deal is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for crypto to cozy up to traditional markets. Because nothing says “trust” like a $1.25 billion handshake. 🤝 Ripple, already a long-time customer of Hidden Road, has been clearing a staggering $3 trillion annually across markets with over 300 institutional customers. Clearly, they’ve been busy.

But wait, there’s more! Ripple sees this acquisition as a golden ticket to optimize costs and liquidity in its cross-border payments solution, Ripple Payments. And let’s not forget the critical custody services for Hidden Road’s customers, because who doesn’t love bank-level digital asset custody? 🏦

XRP and RLUSD: The Real Winners?

Ripple plans to inject billions of dollars of capital to scale Hidden Road’s prime brokerage, clearing, and financing platform. Because when you’ve already spent $1.25 billion, what’s a few more billion? 💸

Hidden Road will also migrate post-trade activity to the XRP Ledger (XRPL), proving once again that XRPL is the blockchain equivalent of a Swiss Army knife for institutional DeFi. According to Garlinghouse, this move will tap into XRP’s “bread-and-butter”—instant, efficient, scalable, and low-cost movement of value. Because who has time to wait 24 hours for trades to settle? Not Hidden Road, apparently.

And let’s not forget RLUSD, the stablecoin that’s about to become the belle of the ball. Hidden Road will use RLUSD as collateral across its prime brokerage services, making it the first stablecoin to enable efficient cross-margining between digital assets and traditional markets. Because nothing says “innovation” like a stablecoin that can do it all. 🎉

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2025-04-08 16:37