Ripple has experienced a significant period of growth and strategic maneuvering, particularly following the 2024 US presidential elections and Donald Trump's return to office in early 2025. His campaign promises, which included a more favorable stance towards the cryptocurrency industry and a shift in regulatory oversight, signaled a substantial change for US-based companies in the sector.
The company, led by Brad Garlinghouse, has been a prominent beneficiary of these evolving dynamics. The conclusion of the four-year legal battle with the SEC, which favored Ripple, marked a turning point. Even before the lawsuit's resolution, Ripple had begun executing ambitious acquisition strategies, a move Garlinghouse recently highlighted.
With today’s close of Hidden Road (now Ripple Prime), Ripple has announced 5 major acquisitions in ~2 years (GTreasury last week, Rail in August, Standard Custody in 2024, Metaco in 2023). As we continue to build solutions towards enabling an Internet of Value – I’m reminding you… https://t.co/O5Uub7ulw9
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) October 24, 2025
Five Major Acquisitions
Ripple's acquisition spree commenced in May 2023 with a $250 million deal to acquire Metaco, a Swiss-based provider of cryptocurrency custody solutions. This acquisition aimed to bolster Ripple's enterprise offerings, equipping its clients with the technology necessary for custody, issuance, and settlement of tokenized assets.
Less than a year later, another significant acquisition was announced. Monica Long, President of Ripple, confirmed the purchase of Standard Custody & Trust Company, an enterprise-grade platform designed for digital asset management and custody.
The year 2025 saw an acceleration in these strategic moves, with three major deals completed. Rail, a platform designed to facilitate faster, more transparent, and trustworthy cross-border payments by integrating stablecoins and fiat currencies, was acquired for $200 million.
In addition to its expansion into treasury services, Ripple also acquired the treasury software provider GTreasury for $1 billion. This move was intended to strengthen its relationships within the corporate finance sector and support its plans for establishing its own treasury company.
The most substantial acquisition was that of prime broker Hidden Road. While initially announced in April, the deal was finalized earlier this week, with the platform now operating under the name Ripple Prime. This acquisition positions Ripple as the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker, aiming to bring digital assets to institutional customers at scale.
“We’re pleased to share that our acquisition of Hidden Road is officially complete, making Ripple the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker – bringing the promise of digital assets to institutional customers at scale,” read the firm’s statement.
Impact on XRP
While the XRP community celebrated each acquisition and the conclusion of the SEC lawsuit, questions have arisen regarding the direct impact on XRP, the underlying asset. Despite an initial peak in July, XRP's price has seen a notable decline of approximately 30% since then.
Brad Garlinghouse was directly queried about XRP's role within Ripple's evolving infrastructure, especially following the introduction of the company's stablecoin, RLUSD, late last year. This discussion comes as users seek to understand how Ripple's integrated services, like Ripple Prime, will operate in conjunction with its token offerings.
Brad, many in the XRP community are trying to understand how the clearing and settlement process will work now that Ripple has integrated Hidden Road under Ripple Prime.
We’ve heard RLUSD mentioned as the core settlement asset — but is that RLUSD operating on the XRP Ledger or…
— CryptoSensei (@Crypt0Senseii) October 24, 2025
One user suggested that XRP's primary function is to serve as a liquidity pool. The argument is that a higher USD valuation for XRP would facilitate faster transactions, requiring less XRP to complete them. While RLUSD is pegged to the US dollar on a one-to-one basis, it may not fully address the liquidity challenges, according to this perspective.