Hidden Road Secures Broker-dealer License Days After $1.25B Ripple Acquisition

Hidden Road has received regulatory approval to operate as a broker-dealer, just days after being acquired by Ripple.

As initially reported by Bloomberg, Hidden Road — a non-bank brokerage firm that was recently acquired by Ripple (XRP) — has obtained a broker-dealer license from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The FINRA license enables the firm to expand its prime brokerage, clearing, and financing services across fixed-income assets to a wider range of institutional investors.

Hidden Road President Noel Kimmel commented on the move stating that it “enables us to transact a much broader universe of customers.”

The FINRA license was granted just days after the firm was acquired by Ripple in a $1.25 billion deal. As part of the integration, Hidden Road will use Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin as collateral for its prime brokerage services and transition its post-trade activity onto the XRP Ledger.

Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the “deal marks a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for crypto to access the largest and most trusted traditional markets, and vice versa.” Hidden Road clears over $3 trillion annually across more than 300 institutions — volume that Ripple now aims to channel through the XRP Ledger.

As for Hidden Road, the integration of Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin and post-trade settlement via the XRP Ledger allows it to offer faster, lower-cost clearing services, which increases its competitiveness as a non-bank prime broker.

“Instead of waiting for <24 hours to settle trades through fiat rails, Hidden Road will be using XRPL for clearing a portion of trades, and most consequentially, using RLUSD as collateral across its prime brokerage services, including cross-asset (crypto and traditional instrument) trades”, Garlignhouse said.

Looking ahead, Hidden Road plans to expand its product offering to include fixed-income repurchase agreements and global funding services later this year, leveraging Ripple’s balance sheet and resources.