Blurring the Lines Between Decentralized Finance and Traditional Finance, Ripple's XRP Ledger (XRPL) Is at the Center of a New Attempt to Integrate Blockchain into the Heart of Institutional Trading

The lines between decentralized finance and traditional finance continue to blur now, Ripple's XRP Ledger (XRPL) is at the center of a new attempt to integrate blockchain into the heart of institutional trading.

Lines between decentralized finance and traditional finance continue to blur now, with Ripple’s XRP Ledger (XRPL) landing at the heart of one institution’s attempt to integrate blockchain into prime brokerage.

In a recent interview at Blockworks’ InstiTech conference in New York, Hidden Road’s chief operating officer, Cassie Craddock, confirmed that XRPL will play a core role in powering the firm’s post-trade processes.

This collaboration marks a potential turning point for how trades will be settled in prime brokerage, considering Hidden Road clears over $10 billion in derivatives volume daily.

“The XRP Ledger will be used as post-trade for all of Hidden Road’s Prime Brokerage Services,” Craddock confirmed. “We will use RLUSD as collateral to enable the bridging of digital assets to tradfi.”

XRPL To Power $10B In Daily Transactions

Craddock revealed that the integration will see XRPL support trade settlement, data reconciliation and collateral movements.

With typical settlement times set at 24 hours, the integration with XRPL is expected to drastically cut that down to 3 to 5 seconds, powered by blockchain technology.

“We also see that there is an active audience of 300 institutional clients,” Craddock said. “We are very much focused on building our business, developing new cases and utility for digital assets, and enabling and solving customer problems for our banking and institutional customers.”

Integration also sees Ripple’s own stablecoin, RLUSD, take on a strategic role in facilitating the varied capital requirements for Hidden Road’s trading services.

Craddock confirmed this role, saying RLUSD enables the “bridging of the digital asset space to TradFi,” highlighting Ripple’s broader ambition to integrate stable digital value into traditional financial ecosystems.

As observers await more on-chain data and formal rollout timelines from both firms, the collaboration hints at how Ripple aims to navigate a post-lawsuit phase more anchored in institutional-grade utility, distinct from the shorter-term price cycles that often dominate crypto discussion.

While Ripple is gaining ground with institutions, XRP’s price movements present a more mixed picture.

At the time of writing, XRP is trading at $2.11, showing a gain of 3% over the past 24 hours.

However, the token’s price has dropped by 10% over the past seven days. Despite this setback, XRP’s 24-hour trading volume has increased by 43%, reaching $2.29 billion.

Technically, XRP is trading at a key price resistance level of $2.12, according to TradingView data. Past this level, the next price resistance level is $2.62.