Ripple’s Acquisition of Hidden Road
Ripple made headlines this week when it became the first crypto-native company to acquire a multi-asset prime broker, potentially setting the stage for wider adoption of its XRP Ledger technology. The acquisition of Hidden Road didn’t come cheap, either, as Ripple doled out $1.25 billion for the brokerage. It was a price Ripple CEO Brad Garlinhouse was happy to pay as the company set its sights on global expansion.
Elsewhere, crypto exchange Binance listened to its community and moved to delist 14 tokens that no longer met its quality thresholds. Meanwhile, Binance’s former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, was appointed adviser for Pakistan’s newly formed crypto counsel. All this happened against a backdrop of negative headlines and plunging crypto prices stemming from the US-led trade war, which culminated in President Donald Trump’s executive order establishing a 104% tariff on Chinese imports.
Despite the chaos, a panel of industry experts told Cointelegraph that the crypto bull market is far from over. In fact, it hasn’t even started yet.
Hidden Road: Ripple’s “Defining Moment”
Ripple’s $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road is the payment company’s “defining moment,” according to Ripple’s chief financial officer, David Schwartz. In a social media post, Schwartz said the acquisition gives Ripple a major boost in promoting its XRP Ledger since Hidden Road already has more than 300 institutional customers and processes more than 50 million transactions per day. 
“Now, imagine even a portion of that activity on the XRP Ledger — and that’s exactly what Hidden Road plans on doing — not to mention future use of collateral and real-world assets tokenized on the XRPL,” said Schwartz. Ripple has already dabbled in real-world assets (RWAs) by launching a tokenized money market fund in partnership with crypto exchange Archax. That could be the tip of the iceberg for the company’s RWA ambitions.
Binance’s Purge Continues
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance will purge 14 tokens from its platform on April 16 following its first “vote to delist” results, where community members nominated projects with troubling metrics. The 14 tokens selected for delisting include Badger (BADGER), Balancer (BAL), Beta Finance, Status (SNT), Cream Finance (CREAM) and Nuls (NULS). These tokens were removed after Binance conducted a “comprehensive evaluation of multiple factors,” including project development activity, trading volumes and responsiveness to the exchange’s due diligence requests.
Pakistan Taps CZ to Broaden Crypto Ambitions
Pakistan landed one of crypto’s biggest influencers as it attempts to promote industry adoption and lure blockchain companies to its shores. On April 7, the newly created Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC) appointed former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao as its crypto adviser. Pakistan’s finance ministry said Zhao will advise the PCC on crypto regulations, infrastructure development and adoption. 
After being lukewarm on crypto, Pakistan is fully embracing the industry in recognition of its transformative impact. The country has become a hotbed of crypto activity thanks to rising retail adoption and remittance activity. “Pakistan is done sitting on the sidelines,” said Bilal bin Saqib, the CEO of the PCC. “We want to attract international investment because Pakistan is a low-cost high-growth market with […] a Web3 native workforce ready to build.”
Crypto Bull Market Hasn’t Loaded Yet
With investors wondering whether Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins have already peaked, an industry panel told Cointelegraph’s Gareth Jenkinson that the best is yet to come. 
Speaking at a LONGITUDE by Cointelegraph panel in Paris, France, MN Capital founder Michael van de Poppe said he believes the bull market “is actually getting started from this point.” Drawing parallels between the recent market crash and the COVID-19 meltdown of March 2020, van de Poppe said the US Federal Reserve will eventually step in to backstop investors. Fellow panelist and Messari CEO Eric Turner agreed, saying, “We never had a bull market,” but rather “two sides of the market” driven by Bitcoin exchange-traded funds and the memecoin frenzy.