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On Friday, Ripple Labs announced the launch of “Prime Time,” following its acquisition of Hidden Road. The company will now be rebranded as Ripple Prime. The company confirmed the completion of the acquisition, making Ripple Labs the first blockchain payment company to operate as a global, multi-asset prime broker.
The acquisition was deemed a logical step, driven by the synergies between Ripple and Hidden Road, to facilitate the institutional adoption of digital assets which has been on the rise throughout the year in a more favorable regulatory environment under the Trump administration.
Ripple’s digital asset infrastructure, which includes payment solutions, crypto custody, and stablecoin services, will increase the offerings within Ripple Prime. Looking ahead, Ripple Prime plans to harness blockchain technology to streamline operations and optimize costs.
Notably, the launch of Ripple Prime is expected to significantly boost the utility and reach of Ripple’s stablecoin, RLUSD. Currently, RLUSD is being utilized as collateral for various prime brokerage products, with certain derivatives clients opting to hold their balances in RLUSD, a trend anticipated to grow in the coming months.
RLUSD’s regulatory compliance under the new stablecoin bill, the GENIUS Act, already signed by President Donald Trump, is said to have earned it the trust of institutions, providing further integration into traditional financial operations.
In July, RLUSD was recognized as the top stablecoin for stability, governance, and asset backing by Bluechip, which awarded it an ‘A’ rating. Additionally, Ripple announced that The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BNY) will serve as the primary reserve custodian for RLUSD.
This acquisition is one of five major strategic purchases by the blockchain payment company in the past two years, including recent acquisitions of treasury management system provider GTreasury, stablecoin-based payment platform Rail, Standard Custody, and Metaco.
In addition, the company is currently pursuing approval for its national bank charter license in the United States. It joins other firms, including, Circle (CRCL), Coinbase (COIN), Sony Bank, Paxos, and Crypto.com, which recently announced its intent to seek approval for this application with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
As of this writing, XRP has capitalized on these developments, surging toward $2.70 — a 3% intraday increase. However, the altcoin still records monthly losses of 16%, putting it 32% below its all-time high of $3.65 reached earlier this year.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
