As the company behind XRP, Ripple continues to acquire and technology investments in line with its goal of building bridges with traditional funds.
The company attracted attention when it acquired Prime Broker Hidden Road earlier this year for $1.25 billion, but Ripple’s plans didn’t stop.
Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz said the company is evaluating multiple acquisitions. “Our acquisition and merger team is working very hard. There are many potential acquisition processes at different stages,” Schwartz said, adding that the activities in this sector are due to Wall Street not fully aware of these opportunities.
Schwartz said the slow pace of traditional financial giants in strategic acquisitions provides opportunities for crypto companies. “We don’t have to compete with big banks to acquire strategically valuable companies like Hidden Road,” he said.
Ripple has previously acquired Crypto Custody Fomis such as Metaco and Standard Custody, and the company also plans to use the new Stablecoin, RLUSD, as collateral for its brokerage services on Hidden Road.
Ripple is preparing to develop an XRP ledger (XRPL) infrastructure as well as an acquisition. Aiming to gain “programmaticality” like Ethereum, XRPL will soon be equipped with a payment management system that will function similarly to smart contracts.
Schwartz said that while full programmers will not be possible anytime soon, the goal is to “keep security while providing flexibility.” For example, he said that a contract could be introduced that allows users to receive payments on preferred digital assets in place of XRP.
Additionally, Ripple is developing a lending protocol on the XRP ledger. The system is expected to be released if approved in the third quarter of 2025. Schwartz said the structure summarises traditional finance (TRADFI) and distributed finance (defi), saying, “The choice of borrowers and legal transactions involves chaining, symbolizing and distribution of retransmission rights.”
Ripple made industry headlines in June, making numerous announcements, including tokenized Treasury debt, distributed exchanges (DEXs) for institutional investors, and partnerships with wormholes that allow for asset transfers between blockchains.
*This is not investment advice.
