XRP has once again captured the spotlight following a recent revelation by its dedicated community. Members closely monitoring Ripple’s movements discovered that Ripple’s recent acquisition, Hidden Road, is now linked to the powerful $11 trillion-a-day U.S. Treasury clearing network—an integration that underlines Ripple’s expanded reach in global finance.
The spotlight falls on Hidden Road, a prime brokerage platform acquired by Ripple in April 2025. Interestingly, prior to the public acquisition announcement, Hidden Road was accepted as a member of the Government Securities Division (GSD) under the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC)—a major component of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). This membership, which became effective on March 14 under participant #9388, offers Hidden Road participation in high-volume clearing activities such as netting, repurchase agreement (repo) netting, and General Collateral Finance (GCF Repo) transactions.
Matthew, an XRP advocate, shared the GSD membership update, prompting widespread discussion and analysis within the community. Given that GSD now handles more than $11 trillion in daily U.S. Treasury settlements, the connection amplifies Ripple’s broader strategic ambitions in traditional financial sectors.
According to FICC, a record-breaking volume of $11 trillion was processed on April 9, 2025. This figure marks a dramatic surge compared to historic averages. For perspective, daily volumes were around $4.5 trillion before the SEC’s 2023 ruling that expanded the requirement for centralized clearing in U.S. Treasury trading markets. Following the mandate’s finalization in December 2023, the volumes began to spike—with $7.2 trillion reported toward the year’s end and a peak of $10.4 trillion observed throughout 2024.
Ripple’s acquisition of Hidden Road comes at a prime time. The firm already processes more than $3 trillion annually across over 300 institutional clients. However, prior to Ripple’s acquisition, Hidden Road faced challenges related to slow settlement times, hindering operational efficiency for high-value clients.
Ripple’s solution? Leverage the XRP Ledger (XRPL) for its post-trade infrastructure. The implementation aims to vastly reduce settlement windows, bringing them down to just five seconds. In addition to speed, the move delivers enhanced operational transparency and optimization for institutions relying on Hidden Road’s services.
With these developments at the forefront, XRP enthusiasts began speculating on the digital asset’s role in this financial transformation. Some community members projected that even a partial settlement share—say, around $1.5 billion daily—could send the XRP price soaring to $30. However, Ripple promptly dampened speculative flames with clarity.
The company issued a formal statement that RLUSD, Ripple’s proprietary stablecoin, will serve as the collateral asset in this infrastructure. XRP, while integral to the XRPL, will not be used for clearing settlements. Instead, it will play a supporting role by facilitating efficient transactions through minimal fees on the network.
This strategic implementation underscores Ripple’s broader philosophy of scalability and stability through digital asset infrastructure. With RLUSD handling enterprise-grade volumes and XRP anchoring network throughput, Ripple appears to be aligning its assets based on application-specific utility.
This, naturally, prompted passionate discussion within the XRP community. While some acknowledge RLUSD’s role as a functional complement, others question whether the shift marginalizes XRP as Ripple’s main asset for serious financial infrastructure deployments. Nonetheless, both assets are coalescing to form a cohesive and scalable solution poised for mainstream adoption.
Related: Expert Advice: Sell XRP If You’re Confused
Ripple’s expanding foothold in institutional finance—backed by its connection to FICC’s $11 trillion-a-day network—emphasizes the practical maturity of its offerings. While XRP may not be directly facilitating transactions in this latest move, its role within the ecosystem remains both foundational and strategic.
