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This $16 trillion market is Ripple's next target

In early April, Ripple bought prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, one of the biggest deals in crypto history.

By Mike Hesp
• 2 min read
This $16 trillion market is Ripple's next target

In early April, Ripple bought the prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, one of the biggest deals ever in the crypto world. According to Ripple's lawyer, this acquisition is even "the best example of the merger of traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi)".

In a View post on X on X, attorney John Deaton commented: "Ripple's takeover integrates blockchain infrastructure into institutional trading." The combination creates a platform where DeFi efficiency meets the scale and customer base of traditional banks and financial institutions.

One of the immediate winners could be Ripple’s own stablecoin RLUSD. Hidden Road plans to use this coin as collateral in the future. However, RLUSD with a market cap of $317 million is still far behind giants like Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC).

According to Deaton, Ripple has even bigger ambitions. The company wants to deploy its infrastructure for "Tokenization-as-a-Service," enabling banks to tokenize traditional assets such as stocks, bonds, and real estate on the XRP Ledger.

Ripple is also launching a new service: “Ripple Custody.” By bundling custody, payments, and stablecoin solutions, the company aims to become a one-stop shop for financial institutions looking to integrate blockchain technology.

The move into custody is driven by a clear thesis: the Boston Consulting Group says this sector could exceed $16 trillion by 2030. For Ripple, that’s a huge growth opportunity.

Recently in Asia, the first XRP tracker fund was launched, with Ripple Labs as the anchor investor. XRP’s price responded positively to these developments, trading at $2.27 at the time of writing, up 9% from the previous week.

Meanwhile, Ripple continues to face criticism, mainly over a perceived high level of centralization within the network. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse seems unfazed by that.

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