Ripple plans multiple acquisitions and an "Ethereum-style upgrade" to the XRP Ledger blockchain.

According to DL News, Ripple's CTO, David Schwartz, stated that the company is actively seeking acquisition opportunities and has multiple potential acquisition targets in various stages. Ripple acquired prime brokerage Hidden Road for $1.25 billion this year and plans to use its new stablecoin RLUSD as collateral for Hidden Road's brokerage services. In addition, Ripple is working to improve the flexibility or "programmability" of the $XRP Ledger and is building a lending protocol scheduled to launch in the third quarter of this year, which will make the $XRP Ledger more flexible, similar to Ethereum's smart contract functionality. [ChainCatcher]