The deal consisted of mostly cash as well as XRP and stock, Garlinghouse said. The acquisition will close in the coming months pending regulatory approval, and Hidden Road founder Marc Asch will stay on to head the prime broker at Ripple. FT Partners provided financial advice to Hidden Road.
Primer brokers are integral to the efficiency of financial markets, including emerging crypto ones, as they provide a range of services—including trading, custody, lending and borrowing—to large institutions like hedge funds, banks and private equity firms. Because of this, they require a substantial amount of capital to function. As part of the deal, Ripple will “inject billions of dollars of capital to provide immediate scale and satisfy the demand for Hidden Road’s prime brokerage,” the company said in a statement.
