Ripple Buys A Real Business As Crypto’s M&A Heats Up

The company's $1.25 billion acquisition of prime brokerage Hidden Road is part of a record-setting wave of crypto dealmaking.

START INVESTING • Newsletters • MyForbes

Nina Bambysheva Staff Writer, Forbes Money & Markets

Follow me on X and Forbes.com

RIPPLE TO ACQUIRE HIDDEN ROAD FOR $1.25 BILLION

Ripple made headlines Tuesday with its blockbuster $1.25 billion acquisition of prime brokerage Hidden Road—the largest deal in Ripple's history and one of crypto's biggest yet.

Hidden Road was founded in 2018 by Marc Asch, an alum of hedge-fund titan Steven Cohen's SAC Capital and Point72 Asset Management, and processes $3 trillion annually. According to the announcement, the company will utilize Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin as collateral across its prime brokerage products and shift its post-trade activities onto Ripple's XRP Ledger blockchain. Stablecoins like RLUSD allow investors to sidestep crypto volatility by pegging their value to stable assets, typically the U.S. dollar. Since its December launch, RLUSD has grown to nearly $300 million in market cap, per CoinGecko. The acquisition also positions Ripple to offer custody services to Hidden Road's 300+ institutional clients, a big step for a company that has long struggled to establish widespread applications for its technology beyond XRP speculation.

Set to close in the third quarter, the deal underscores the intensifying wave of mergers and acquisitions sweeping through the crypto sector. Architect Partners reported a record-breaking first quarter this year, with 61 transactions totaling $2.2 billion, highlighted by Kraken's $1.5 billion acquisition of NinjaTrader in March.

TETHER EYES U.S. EXPANSION AND DECENTRALIZED AI

The issuer of the $144 billion USDT stablecoin is exploring a stablecoin tailored for the U.S. market. CEO Paolo Ardoino has recently met with lawmakers in Washington, D.C., signaling Tether's commitment to shaping stablecoin regulations. In addition, Tether is also branching into AI with plans to roll out a decentralized, peer-to-peer alternative to OpenAI's ChatGPT. Set to launch later this year, the platform will allow users to keep control of their data and perform complex AI tasks directly on personal devices. Read more.

Forbes Needs Your Help!

We are ranking the world's best crypto exchanges and we want your input. This survey will help us capture which platforms sophisticated users trust the most, what features are most important to you and how you want to see exchanges evolve in 2025 and beyond.

Vote Now

CURRENT PRICE OF TOP 5 COINS (7-Day % Change)

Coin

Price

Percent Change

Bitcoin (BTC)

$83,771

0.6%

Ether (ETH)

$1,616

10.0%

Tether (USDT)

$1.00

0.0%

XRP (XRP)

$2.10

2.1%

BNB (BNB)

$593

0.5%

Sources: Forbes Digital Assets, CoinGecko. Prices as of 9:45 a.m. on April 12, 2025.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SCALES BACK CRYPTO ENFORCEMENT

The Justice Department is pulling back on its crypto crackdown. In a memo Monday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said prosecutors will no longer pursue charges against exchanges, mixers, wallet providers, or dealers for the actions of their users—a move seen as aligning with the Trump administration's pro-crypto stance.

One case that could be affected: Roman Storm, developer of crypto mixer Tornado Cash. Prosecutors allege the service helped launder over $1 billion, including funds tied to North Korean hackers. Storm, whose trial is set for July, argues he's being unfairly targeted for how others used his code.

Elsewhere

US Senate Votes To Confirm Paul Atkins To Lead The SEC As It Enters Crypto Friendly Era

The Block