Ripple’s Latest Plan: Acquire, Acquire, Acquire – Forbes

Ripple’s Ambitious Moves in the Crypto Space

Ripple seems to be gearing up for a significant shift. After grappling with challenges in elevating XRP tokens beyond mere speculation, the San Francisco-based blockchain company is now pursuing an acquisition of Prime Brokerage Hidden Road for an impressive $1.25 billion. This may pave the way for a bigger target: Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, which ranks as the second largest in the world.

So, why Circle? Perhaps it’s because Ripple’s own stablecoin, RLUSD, hasn’t exactly made waves. Launched last December, it managed to achieve a market capitalization of just $317 million. By contrast, USDC boasts a staggering $61.5 billion. Acquiring Circle would, undoubtedly, elevate Ripple’s standing, but the company faces complications due to Circle’s IPO plans.

According to reports from Bloomberg, Ripple initially considered offers between $400 and $500 million, but now the talks seem to be leaning toward a more substantial bid.

This all leads to what seems to be Ripple’s business strategy: flood the market with tokens while retaining a large portion for itself. Ripple has set aside about 4.4 billion XRP in escrow—valued at around $10 billion—and another $38.9 billion worth of XRP. It makes one wonder whether Ripple’s leadership is playing a strategic game or simply casting a wide net to see what catches on.

Visa and MasterCard: Racing into Stablecoins

Meanwhile, Visa and MasterCard are hastily moving to integrate stablecoins into everyday transactions as U.S. lawmakers are accelerating regulatory measures for the sector. MasterCard has recently unveiled a functional suite, allowing consumers to easily receive stablecoins like USDC, thanks to partnerships with crypto companies such as OKX, Nuvei, and Circle.

On the other hand, Visa is collaborating with a Stripe-owned company to introduce stablecoin-linked Visa cards across six Latin American countries. This initiative allows users to utilize their stablecoin balance for shopping at over 150 million merchant locations on Visa. The backend operations are managed by Bridge, which converts cryptocurrencies into local currency, streamlining what feels like a typical card transaction. Plans are in place to extend these services to Europe, Africa, and Asia in the near future.

Investment Buzz: Abu Dhabi Moves into Crypto

In a noteworthy development, an investment firm backed by Abu Dhabi is making strides in the crypto realm through a partnership with Trump’s crypto venture, which is backed by a $2 billion investment in Binance, the leading cryptocurrency exchange. This was revealed by Zach Witkoff, co-founder of World Liberty Financial, during the Token 2049 event in Dubai. The link between Trump family ventures and Binance has drawn attention, especially given the company’s past legal entanglements, including money laundering violations.