Ripple’s 2025 acquisition spree is starting to look less like opportunistic dealmaking and more like an attempt to build the “Amazon of financial infrastructure,” according to Digital Ascension Group CEO Jake Claver. He envisions a vertically integrated system where XRP and Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD serve as the settlement layer.
In a recent video, Claver noted that Ripple spent approximately $2.45 billion on acquisitions in the last seven months of 2025. He argues these purchases form the “pillars for a master plan,” mirroring how Amazon built dominance by owning infrastructure rather than just selling products.
The core analogy is direct. “Amazon’s success came from building infrastructure, not just from selling products,” Claver said. “You have AWS, which became their most profitable business unit. That was infrastructure. They own the warehouses, logistics, cloud services, and the marketplace.”
Claver contends that controlling infrastructure creates structural advantages: lower marginal costs, faster innovation, and higher switching costs once institutions integrate. “This vertical integration is rare in financial services,” he said, noting that most firms “specialize in one layer or partner for the rest,” which leads to friction, delays, and blame-shifting when problems arise.
He also suggested the endgame resembles “winner-take-all dynamics,” where network effects make large platforms exponentially more valuable and switching becomes prohibitively expensive once workflows are embedded.
To explain the Amazon comparison, Claver mapped Ripple’s 2025 deals to what he sees as the essential infrastructure bundle for an institutional platform: “You need custody and clearing for assets. You need treasury management for corporate operations. You need global, 24/7 payment rails. You need stablecoin infrastructure for efficient settlements. And you need settlement assets to move between all of those.”
He argues Ripple has assembled these layers through a mix of earlier acquisitions and major 2025 deals, culminating in what he calls an end-to-end institutional product branded “Ripple 1.”
The most prominent 2025 move, according to Claver, was the $1.25 billion purchase of Hidden Road in April, now rebranded “Ripple Prime.” He frames prime brokerage as the institutional “plumbing” that enables large-scale trading and settlement. “Prime brokers provide the behind-the-scenes services that make institutional trading possible,” he explained. “They handle clearing, ensure trades settle between counterparties, and provide secure custody.”
He added that Hidden Road served over 300 institutional clients and cleared more than $3 trillion in 2024, claiming the business has grown threefold since the acquisition was announced. A key integration, he noted, is that “Hidden Road will use RLUSD as collateral across prime brokerage products, creating organic demand for Ripple’s stablecoin through institutional adoption.”
The second pillar is Rail, acquired for about $200 million in August 2025. Described as a 24/7 stablecoin payments platform, it reduces the need for enterprises to hold crypto directly. Claver claimed Rail was projected to process over 10% of the global $36 billion B2B stablecoin payments market in 2025.
Third is GTreasury, acquired for $1 billion after being announced in October 2025 and closing in December. Claver described it as treasury software used by large corporations, processing $12.5 trillion in annual payments. The strategic value, he argued, is distribution—access to CFOs and treasurers through trusted software already embedded in corporate finance workflows.In November 2025, the fourth company, Palisade, was announced. While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, it was described as the “hot wallet” layer. This service provides operational wallet infrastructure for high-speed transactions, designed to work alongside more secure, long-term custody solutions. At the time of reporting, XRP was trading at $2.10. The article includes a featured image created with DALL-E and a chart from TradingView.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about the claim that Ripple Is Creating the Next Amazon with XRP as Its Core designed to be clear and helpful for all levels of understanding
Beginner Core Concept Questions
1 What does it mean that Ripple is creating the next Amazon
This is an analogy It suggests that Ripple aims to build a vast foundational ecosystem for global finance where XRP is the essential digital asset used to move value similar to how Amazon Web Services is the backbone for much of the internet
2 Who said this and should I take it seriously
The quote is typically attributed to a cryptocurrency CEO or analyst Its a bold vision statement not a guarantee You should take it as an insight into Ripples ambitious longterm strategy not as a shortterm price prediction
3 What is XRP simply put
XRP is a digital currency built for speed and low cost Its designed primarily as a bridge currency to move money across borders instantly much more efficiently than traditional systems like SWIFT
4 What is Ripples role with XRP
Ripple is a technology company that develops solutions for banks and financial institutions It uses XRP and its underlying technology in some of its products like RippleNet and OnDemand Liquidity to improve crossborder payments
5 So is XRP just for Ripple
No While Ripple is a major player the XRP Ledger is a decentralized public blockchain Anyone can build applications on it or use XRP independently of Ripple which is key to the ecosystem vision
Intermediate How It Works Questions
6 How could XRP become the core of a financial ecosystem
The idea is that as more banks and payment providers use XRP for settlements and as developers build other services on the XRP Ledger XRP becomes the essential fuel for a new internetnative financial network
7 Whats the benefit of using XRP over traditional systems