Ripple is quietly moving deeper into traditional finance. Through Ripple Prime, the company is now financing leveraged ETFs and earning fees from stock exposure a business historically dominated by banks. The move came through its $1.25B acquisition of Hidden Road. What stands out to me is the direction: Ripple isn’t just building around crypto anymore. It’s positioning itself across payments, prime brokerage, stablecoins and traditional markets. The bigger question is how much of this eventually connects back to XRP and the $XRP Ledger.