Prime brokerage Hidden Highway, which was just lately acquired by Ripple for $1.25 billion, has secured a broker-dealer license from the Monetary Business Regulatory Authority (FINRA) — a transfer that enhances its capability within the fixed-income markets.
As a FINRA broker-dealer, Hidden Highway can additional develop its fixed-income prime brokerage providers and prolong its capabilities in conventional markets, the corporate introduced on April 17. This consists of providing institutional purchasers regulatory-compliant clearing and financing providers throughout fixed-income securities.
Membership in FINRA is taken into account a big dedication to compliance and investor safety. It additionally boosts registrants’ credibility within the eyes of funding bankers, in response to Telos Capital Advisors, a Dallas-based funding financial institution.
Hidden Highway operates a first-rate brokerage and credit score community, clearing greater than $10 billion in day by day transactions on behalf of greater than 300 institutional purchasers. When it was based in 2018, Hidden Highway centered primarily on overseas trade markets earlier than increasing into digital property.
These strengths positioned Hidden Highway as a gorgeous acquisition for blockchain funds community Ripple, which finally bought the corporate on April 8.
Ripple’s chief know-how officer, David Schwartz, described the acquisition as a “defining second for the XRP Ledger” by increasing the settlement layer’s use instances throughout conventional monetary markets.
Below Ripple, Hidden Highway will “exponentially develop its capability to service its pipeline and develop into the biggest non-bank prime dealer globally,” stated CEO Brad Garlinghouse.
Associated: US to get its first XRP-based ETF, launching on NYSE Arca
Optimistic regulatory backdrop helps Ripple growth
Ripple’s acquisition of Hidden Highway comes on the heels of a positive regulatory backdrop in america following the election of President Donald Trump.
In January, Ripple secured cash transmitter licenses in each Texas and New York, permitting the corporate to facilitate capital transfers inside these states.
Two months later, the Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) dropped its lawsuit in opposition to Ripple, ending certainly one of crypto’s longest authorized battles and positioning the corporate to as soon as once more deal with growth.
On the time, crypto lawyer John Deaton stated the choice is the “ultimate exclamation level that [XRP tokens] are thought of digital commodities, not securities.”
The SEC is about to get a pro-crypto Chair after Paul Atkins’ nomination was accepted by the US Senate on April 9. As soon as he’s sworn in, Atkins will take the reins from Mark Yueda, who has served as Performing Chair since Jan. 20.
Associated: Courtroom grants 60-day pause of SEC, Ripple appeals case