In case you missed it while the word “tariff” blew up the market for the 100th time this week, Ripple just made the biggest power move in crypto since FTX blew up and took half the industry’s dignity with it. 

(Source: Giphy) 

The San Francisco-based blockchain company is buying prime brokerage firm Hidden Road for a girthy $1.25 billion—a.k.a. The biggest deal Ripple has ever done, and one of the largest acquisitions in crypto history (Read: bigger than Stripe’s $1.1B grab of Bridge). So, with that said, who in the hell is Hidden Road? 

Founded in 2018 by a guy who used to work under Stevie Cohen at SAC and Point72 (so you already know he’s fluent in “regulatory gray areas”), Hidden Road is more than a crypto startup. In fact, they legit clear over $3 trillion a year across FX, digital assets, derivatives, and other alphabet soup markets—with 300+ institutional clients, including hedge funds that actually matter. 

(Source: CNBC) 

In other words, they’re the guys behind the guys—the invisible hands making sure your degenerate 50x leverage bet on Farcoin doesn’t blow up the entire system. They’re what you turn to when you want to short the market without blowing your own kneecaps off. But, but, but… why is Ripple buying them? Simple. Ripple isn’t trying to be a crypto company anymore. It’s trying to be a financial institution that just happens to be built on blockchain rails. And this deal is exactly how you skip the line.

For instance, Hidden Road gets access to Ripple’s fat balance sheet (last valued at $11.3B). Ripple gets access to Wall Street’s plumbing. And both sides get to slap each other on the back while pretending they didn’t just become the thing crypto was supposed to destroy. Plus, Hidden Road will now start using Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin as collateral across its prime brokerage products. Meaning, Ripple has officially bought a use case for its stablecoin. Bigly. RLUSD launched in December and is currently sitting just under $300 million in market cap. Brad Garlinghouse (Ripple’s CEO and the guy who’s been on an “F the SEC” revenge tour since 2020) says he expects RLUSD to be top five by year-end. 

(Source: Bloomberg) 

What’s more is that this comes just weeks after the SEC officially dropped its case against Ripple—the same case that had XRP labeled as an unregistered security and painted Ripple as the poster child for crypto’s Wild West. The case dragged on since 2020 and was the regulatory equivalent of a three-year colonoscopy. But now, the gloves are off. Ripple’s got its legal baggage cleared, a stablecoin ready to scale, and now a prime brokerage that gives it a front-row seat to institutional finance. And they’re doing it all in a regulatory environment that’s suddenly gone from warfare to “kinda chill” thanks to Trump. 

So given this, what’s next? If the deal closes (expected Q3), Ripple will have its hands on a firm that was already backed by Citadel Securities, Coinbase Ventures, and Wintermute. And while this is a major win, it’s also a signal. Ripple’s not here to talk about decentralization or “banking the unbanked” anymore. That was the 2017 pitch deck. This is 2025. The new playbook is simple: buy your way into the financial system, inject your own stablecoin into the bloodstream, and let everyone else pretend it was their idea. 

(Source: Giphy) 

Meaning, Wall Street just got Ripple’d. And whether you love it, hate it, or still think XRP is a scam, you might want to start paying attention. For now, keep your eyes on the XRP cult and place your bets accordingly. Until next time, friends… 

P.S. Last week was absolutely horrific. Portfolios are down and emotions are high. But do you know who slayed the week while everyone else is panic-selling? Stocks.News premium members. Click here to join the club, and get the deepest insights and most explosive moves BEFORE everyone else. 

Stocks.News does not hold positions in companies mentioned in the article.