On Friday, Ripple Labs announced the launch of “Prime Time,” a significant milestone following its recent acquisition of Hidden Road. The rebranding will see Hidden Road transformed into Ripple Prime, making Ripple Labs the first blockchain payment company to function as a global, multi-asset prime broker.
How Ripple Prime Is Expected To Enhance RLUSD’s Utility
This strategic acquisition was viewed as a logical progression for Ripple, aimed at leveraging synergies to facilitate institutional adoption of digital assets, a trend that has been decidedly gaining momentum throughout the year, particularly against a backdrop of a more favorable regulatory climate introduced under the Trump administration.
Ripple’s digital asset infrastructure incorporates payment solutions, crypto custody, and stablecoin services, which will be significantly enhanced through Ripple Prime. Future plans outline the utilization of blockchain technology to streamline operations and optimize costs, aligning with modern financial demands.
Perhaps most notably, Ripple Prime is set to amplify the utility and reach of Ripple’s stablecoin, RLUSD. Currently, RLUSD is being deployed as collateral in various prime brokerage products, with an increasing number of derivatives clients choosing to hold their balances in RLUSD—this trend is expected to expand in the forthcoming months.
RLUSD’s compliance with the newly minted stablecoin legislation, the GENIUS Act, which has already been signed into law by President Donald Trump, has garnered institutional trust, paving the way for deeper integration into traditional finance. In July, RLUSD earned high praise as the top stablecoin recognized for its stability, governance, and asset backing, receiving an ‘A’ rating from Bluechip. To further bolster its credibility, Ripple has announced that The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BNY) will act as the primary reserve custodian for RLUSD.
Five Major Acquisitions Over Two Years
This acquisition marks the fifth significant strategic purchase by Ripple in the past two years, which also includes the recent acquisitions of GTreasury, a treasury management system provider, the stablecoin-focused payment platform Rail, along with Standard Custody and Metaco.
Additionally, Ripple is currently pursuing a national bank charter license approval in the United States. It joins other notable firms such as Circle, Coinbase, Sony Bank, Paxos, and Crypto.com, which have also signaled their intent to apply for this license with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
As of this writing, the developments surrounding Ripple have positively impacted XRP, pushing it toward $2.70—reflecting a 3% intraday increase. However, the altcoin remains 32% shy of its all-time high of $3.65 achieved earlier this year, with monthly losses recorded at 16%.
