Dominic Kwok, co-founder of Web3 education platform EasyA, described Ripple’s recent acquisition of prime brokerage firm Hidden Road as one of the most significant deals in crypto history.
Speaking from Paris Blockchain Week, where the news first broke, Kwok noted that the deal holds transformative potential for Ripple, XRP Ledger, and the broader digital asset ecosystem.
“I’ve followed tons of deals in the crypto space, but Ripple’s acquisition of Hidden Road is undoubtedly one of the most significant,” Kwok said on X. “This makes Ripple the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker.”
The acquisition, reportedly valued at $1.25 billion, allows Ripple to offer full-service trading and clearing solutions that rival those of Wall Street’s most prominent financial institutions, according to Kwok. Hidden Road, which processes over $3 trillion in transactions annually and serves over 300 institutional clients, will now become a central pillar of Ripple’s efforts to bring institutional-grade services to the crypto world.
“Hidden Road processes over $10 billion in transactions on any given day and over 50 million transactions on traditional finance rails. Now, this will run on the XRP Ledger,” he added.
According to Kwok, one of the key benefits of the acquisition is that Hidden Road’s operations will be deeply integrated into Ripple’s ecosystem. All transactions made through Hidden Road will be moved to the XRP Ledger, while Ripple’s native stablecoin, RLUSD, will be used as collateral for the firm’s brokerage services.
According to Kwok, this is expected to significantly increase real-world institutional adoption of both XRP Ledger and RLUSD, solidifying Ripple’s position as a leading infrastructure provider in the digital finance space.
*This is not investment advice.
