Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Explains Why Hidden Road Is Key to DeFi Growth

Ripple is quietly building a powerhouse in decentralized finance (DeFi), and its latest acquisition, Hidden Road, is taking center stage. CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently highlighted how the firm is transforming access to both traditional finance and crypto markets, and it’s moving fast.

Hidden Road Opens DeFi to Wall Street

Hidden Road, now under Ripple’s wing, is not just any prime broker. It acts as a “one-stop shop” for institutional players, from hedge funds to market makers, offering seamless access to digital assets, derivatives, and swaps. Garlinghouse emphasized that such firms historically relied on traditional banks like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs. But now, Hidden Road is bridging the old world of finance with the new decentralized economy.

Backed by strong capital and a solid balance sheet, Hidden Road is becoming a key player in helping financial institutions enter the crypto space. Garlinghouse believes this is just the beginning, with more prime brokers likely to follow suit as DeFi becomes an institutional norm.

Big XRP Transfers Spark Buzz

Alongside the Hidden Road update, Ripple has moved over $108 million in XRP, 35 million tokens in a single transaction. According to XRPwallets, this was an internal Ripple-to-Ripple movement, likely tied to products like ETPS, trusts, or other investments. Earlier this week, Ripple had also moved over 600 million XRP in similar large transactions, initially triggering whale rumors but later clarified as strategic movements within Ripple’s ecosystem.

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The Bigger Picture

Moreover, Ripple’s acquisition of Hidden Road is proving to be a game-changer for its push toward global adoption. With this, XRP can be positioned as a core settlement asset, and Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin can be used as collateral, strengthening liquidity and real-world utility on the XRP Ledger. This move not only enhances Ripple’s credibility in the financial world but also accelerates real institutional use of its blockchain technology.

With XRP trading near $3 despite recent volatility, and Ripple positioning itself at the center of institutional crypto adoption, the stage is being set for Ripple’s ecosystem to play a major role in the next wave of DeFi growth.