Hidden Road, a prime broker that focuses on crypto and traditional assets, which recently agreed to be acquired by Ripple, is opening an office in Abu Dhabi, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

The office will be led by James Stickland, a partner at the firm, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is private.

Hidden Road confirmed the plans.

The company has received in-principle approval (IPA) from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of ADGM, Hidden Road said in a press release shared with CoinDesk on Thursday.

A member of the Abu Dhabi royal family could potentially join the board of the company’s local entity when it receives final regulatory approval, one of the people said.

Once Hidden Road receives this final approval, it will be authorized to offer clearing and prime brokerage services to institutional investors in the UAE, the company said.

They are not the only firm making moves in the region. Circle, the issuer of the second-largest stablecoin, USDC, said it received in-principle regulatory approval from Abu Dhabi last month, paving the way for an expansion across the Middle East.

Prime brokers are an essential part of the plumbing of financial markets. They provide trading, financing and custody services to large institutions.

Stickland is the former CEO of Elwood Technologies and Elwood Asset Management, the crypto firm backed by billionaire hedge fund manager Alan Howard. He joined Hidden Road over a year ago, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Ripple agreed to buy multi-asset prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion last month, marking one of the largest M&A deals in the digital asset industry to date.

The crypto company, headed by Brad Garlinghouse, said it will inject fresh capital into Hidden Road to expand its clearing, prime brokerage, and financing operations, aiming to make the firm the largest non-bank prime broker globally.

Hidden Road said last month that it had received FINRA approval to operate as a U.S. broker-dealer, enhancing its fixed income prime brokerage platform.

Read more: Hidden Road, Set to Be Acquired by Ripple, Wins U.S. Broker-Dealer License

Bitcoin (BTC) flirted with $100,000 Thursday as major cryptocurrencies including dogecoin (DOGE) and Cardano’s ADA led crypto market gains, boosted by dovish signals from the Federal Reserve and a pending trade deal teased by U.S. President Donald Trump.

DOGE added 5% and ADA jumped 4%, while ether (ETH), BNB Chain’s BNB, xrp (XRP) and Solana’s SOL gained 2%-3%. The broad-based CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a liquid index tracking the largest tokens, rose 2.2%.

In a social media post late Wednesday, Trump said the U.S. will unveil a “big” trade deal with a “highly respected country” at a press conference slated for 10 a.m. ET. Bloomberg, the Financial Times and New York Times all identified the country as the U.K.

The announcement would mark the start of “many” such deals, Trump added, raising speculation that months of tariff-fueled uncertainty is set to ease, possibly reviving risk appetite across global markets.

Tariff concerns have rocked equities and commodities in recent weeks. Any resolution that improves cost dynamics for U.S. businesses could serve as a tailwind for risk assets, including crypto.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold interest rates steady on Wednesday was no surprise, though it left markets divided on when cuts might begin.

The CME FedWatch Tool shows probabilities for a July cut to the 4.00%-4.25% range at 55%, even as traders priced in a cumulative 100 basis points of easing by year-end.

“Bitcoin is inching back up to $100k with the steady Fed rate decision and the topic of future rate cuts having more consideration by traders,” said Semir Gabeljic, head of Pythagoras Investments. “Based on the current administration’s pressure on the Fed chair, anything is a possibility—uncertainty is the only certainty.”

Other observers warned that policymakers could be walking into a period of stagflation, which occurs when high inflation, stagnant economic growth and rising unemployment occur simultaneously — considered highly detrimental for a healthy economy.

“The Federal Reserve faces an intensifying policy dilemma that threatens both sides of its dual mandate,” said Gabe Selby, head of research at CF Benchmarks, told CoinDesk in a message.

“With businesses largely passing rising tariff costs onto consumers … inflation is expected to reaccelerate over the next six months, while labor market indicators point to a deteriorating employment outlook,” Selby said.

Selby added that while CF Benchmarks still anticipates “around 100bps of rate cuts by year-end,” the Fed could err by acting too late, risking further economic pain.

“In this volatile macro backdrop, bitcoin has clearly emerged as a key beneficiary,” Selby noted, citing record inflows into U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs, including BlackRock’s IBIT, which has seen $4.3 billion in inflows over the past month.

Meanwhile, Jupiter Zheng, a partner at HashKey Capital, said BTC’s recent price moves are part of a broader structural shift.

“Bitcoin’s rise is a testament to its hedge against macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility,” Zheng said. “Investors increasingly view crypto as a core part of resilient portfolios.”

Read more: Fed Stagflation Risk Signal Could Be Bullish for Bitcoin, Analyst Says

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, founder and former CEO of Binance, confirmed on a podcast that he has formally applied for a presidential pardon from Donald Trump—less than a year after serving a four-month sentence in a U.S. federal prison.

Zhao shared the update on an episode of the Farohk Radio podcast, stating that his legal team submitted the application two weeks earlier.

“I’ve got lawyers applying. We only submitted after the Bloomberg article and the Wall Street Journal article came out,” he said, referring to March coverage that reported he was seeking a pardon while engaging in crypto business deals involving Trump family allies. “And I was like, well, if they are writing this article, we might as well officially apply.”

At the time, Zhao publicly rejected parts of those stories, calling them inaccurate and denied any active business negotiations involving Binance U.S.

Zhao was sentenced in April 2024 after pleading guilty the year before to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program at Binance, at the time the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume.

Alongside his prison term, Zhao paid a $50 million fine. Binance itself paid $4.3 billion in what became one of the largest corporate settlements in U.S. history. He was released in September last year.

Trump has already pardoned other high-profile figures in the crypto space. These include Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht and BitMEX’s co-founders as his administration brought on a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment.

During the podcast, CZ also revealed he wasn’t invested in Donald Trump’s official memecoin TRUMP.Earlier this week, Zhao revealed he advised Kyrgyzstan on using BTC and BNB as the initial cryptocurrencies for a potential National Crypto Reserve.