How Ripple’s Big Buy and Crypto Shenanigans Could Make You Rich—or Not

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Well now, Monica Long, the high-falutin’ president over at Ripple Labs, done stirred the pot good with the XRP folks. She dropped word of Ripple’s latest escapade—a shiny new purchase to fatten their wallet and puff up their reputation. All this hullabaloo comes as the XRP coin pretends to be the belle of the blockchain ball, with some institutions playing along and prices tiptoeing upward like a cat on a hot tin roof.

Ripple Goes Shopping: Hidden Road and a Billion-Dollar Price Tag

In an interview that sounded about as thrilling as a frog’s ribbit, Monica confessed that Ripple snatched up Hidden Road—a global prime brokerage outfit that moves over $3 trillion every year, which is more money than a man could shake a stick at.

She admitted the deal set Ripple back a mere $1.25 billion—a steal, if you consider it a strategic move to beef up their financial muscle. They’re fixin’ to make payments quicker than a jackrabbit on a date, keep tokens safe as Grandma’s silverware, and turn assets into digital magic tricks for businesses.

“Had a good chinwag with @ArjunKharpal on CNBC’s Beyond the Valley about our new toy, Hidden Road (announce it just two shakes of a lamb’s tail ago!), and how it packs a punch for our core biz—financing the movement of money,”

— Monica Long (@MonicaLongSF) April 25, 2025

Monica also crowed about the payments network growing like a weed, with Ripple clutching over 60 licenses like a gambler holding aces, managing liquidity with the skill of a cat herding mice, and calling the shots on every cent that flies through their system.

Buying Hidden Road fits snugly with Ripple’s grand plan—mixing XRP, their RLUSD stablecoin, and other digital doodads into a mighty fine service for bigger fish in the enterprise pond.

Now don’t get yourselves in a twist over their postponed plans to go public. Monica says these folks are rolling in dough and see no need to parade their business in the stock market arena just yet.

Ripple’s head honcho, Brad Garlinghouse, chimed in with a wink, saying they’d rather build their empire through buying other companies than throw a big IPO party. Sounds like a plan, or at least a fancy way to avoid pesky shareholders asking awkward questions.

XRP’s Price Dance: Holding Its Ground or Slipping on a Banana Peel?

According to those coin folks at CoinMarketCap, XRP, the fourth-biggest critter in the crypto zoo, is trading at about $2.19, up a tick—enough to make a mouse proud.

Though the price has been consolidatin’ like a fella trying to decide what to wear to the dance, it’s clinging to support just above $2.11 and poking its nose past some important levels after hitting $2.30 midweek.

Analysts, those serious-suited folks who gaze into charts like fortune tellers at a county fair, reckon there’s a 25% chance XRP might bust out towards $2.74, thanks to a bullish inverse head-and-shoulders pattern. If it can shimmy past $2.22 resistance, the path to $2.50 and beyond might be as clear as a summer day.

The recent news out of CME Group about kicking off XRP futures trading on May 19 has added fuel to the optimistic fire. They’re setting up contracts both micro and mighty for the bigwigs and the little guy alike to take a gamble.

Plus, Coinbase throwing their hat in the ring with a filing to the CFTC means the grown-up traders are getting real cozy with XRP.

XRP price chart | Source: TradingView

But hold your horses, the technical signals are about as mixed as a pokeberry pie. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is hanging around 55 but sliding downward like a moonshine runner evading the law, hinting that sentiment might be shifting.

Long liquidations are outpacing short ones—sounds like sellers are getting twitchy. Still, XRP stays above its 100-day EMA, keeping hopes alive like a cat with nine lives.

Folks are watching the $2.15 support and $2.22 resistance levels closer than a preacher watching Sunday service, eager to see what Ripple’s next move will be.

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2025-04-25 16:13