Ripple’s New Strategy: Buy, Buy, Buy

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Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, at Collision 2022 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo By Stephen ... More McCarthy/Sportsfile for Collision via Getty Images)
Sportsfile via Getty Images
RIPPLE IS TRYING TO BUY CIRCLE
After years of struggling to gain traction beyond speculation around its XRP token, Ripple seems ready to skip the slow climb and buy its way to the top. Hot off its $1.25 billion acquisition of prime brokerage Hidden Road, the San Francisco-based blockchain firm has set its sights on a much bigger prize: Circle, the issuer of USDC, the world’s second-largest stablecoin.
Why Circle? Well, maybe because Ripple’s own stablecoin, RLUSD, hasn’t exactly set the crypto world ablaze. Launched just last December, it has reached a modest market cap of $317 million. In contrast, USDC commands a staggering $61.5 billion. Snapping it up would instantly catapult Ripple into the big leagues, but Circle’s IPO plans complicate the dance.
According to Bloomberg, Ripple initially floated an offer in the $4–5 billion range, which Circle swiftly rejected. The latest word on the street is that the company is now bidding higher.