Ripple has agreed to acquire Multi-Asset Prime Brokerage Firm Hidden Road for $ 1.25 billion, marking one of the largest M&A offers in the digital asset industry to date.
Coindesk reported that Hidden Road was in active acquisition figures last week.
Hidden Road clears over $ 3 trillioning annually across currency, derivatives, digital assets and fixed income markets, with more than 300 institutional clients, according to a press release announcing the agreement.
The message did not specify the financing terms for the agreement.
“With the US market that finally opens up and digital assets maturing for institutional adoption, this is a bending point,” Ripple Ceo Brad Garlinghouse said in a statement.
“We accelerate our expansion and exploit XRP and our wider solutions to bring traditional economy and crypto closer together,” added Garlinghouse.
Ripple said it will inject fresh capital into Hidden Road to expand its clearing, prime mediation and financing operations aimed at making the company the largest non-bankprime broker globally.
The deal also strengthens Ripple’s StableCOin ambitions. Hidden Road will use Ripple’s US dollar-stacked stablecoin, RLUSD, as security across its primary brokerage platform. It makes RLUSD the first stableecoin to enable effective cross margin of traditional and digital asset markets, Ripple said.
Hidden Road also plans to migrate its operations after trading on XRP Ledger (XRPL) for the purpose of reducing costs and streamlining settlement processes. Ripple expects the move to further show XRPL as a blockchain optimized for institutional defi -use cases.
Ripple, who participated in Hidden Road’s Series B round and has been a customer on its platform, said the agreement is expected to close in the coming months pending regulatory approvals. The company currently has over 60 regulatory licenses globally.
Read more: Crypto-friendly Prime Broker Hidden Road In Active Takeover Talks: Sources
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