Ripple secured $500 million in funding, achieving a $40 billion valuation, with support from major financial institutions anticipating growth in the digital asset infrastructure sector.
TL;DR
- Ripple secured $500 million in funding, reaching a $40 billion valuation.
- Fortress Investment Group and Citadel Securities affiliated funds led the investment round.
- New funding will support Ripple's growth in custody, stablecoins, and prime brokerage.
- Ripple's US-dollar-backed stablecoin RLUSD has surpassed $1 billion in market capitalization.
Fortress Investment Group and Citadel Securities affiliated funds spearheaded the round, joined by Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, Brevan Howard, and Marshall Wace, according to the crypto-focused financial technology company. Stated in a release on Wednesday.
Ripple announced that the new funding will support its growth in custody, stablecoins, and prime brokerage, sectors experiencing heightened institutional demand as regulated digital asset infrastructure advances. Ripple reports that its blockchain-based network has facilitated over $95 billion in transactions, positioning its platform as a tool for international payments. The US-dollar-backed stablecoin RLUSD has recently exceeded $1 billion in market capitalization, positioning it as the seventh-largest within its category, as indicated by data from CoinMarketCap.com.
“Given the momentum, the overall industry is really opening up to and glomming onto stablecoin payments, which has been core to our strategy all along,” Ripple President Monica Long said during an interview at the firm’s The Ripple Swell conference took place in New York. “So within that part of the business alone, we’ve doubled our customers quarter on quarter.”
Ripple seeks to serve as an infrastructure provider for organizations interested in utilizing cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Since the start of the second Trump administration, which reduced regulations and welcomed the crypto industry, traditional financial institutions have shown increased public interest in entering the crypto sector. President Donald Trump has already secured significant victories for the industry, notably by enacting the initial federal regulatory structure for stablecoins. Now, companies such as Coinbase Global Inc. And Ripple are stepping up to position themselves as crypto-native collaborators for newcomers to the sector.
The company is collaborating with WebBank, Mastercard, and Gemini to investigate deploying RLUSD on XRPL, a public blockchain built for payments, to facilitate stablecoin settlements for card purchases. The aim is to enable blockchain-based settlements between Mastercard and WebBank, the issuer of the Gemini credit card.
The Securities and Exchange Commission concluded its lawsuit against Ripple earlier this year, marking one of several enforcement actions that have been dropped during Trump's second term. In 2020, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple, alleging that the company had offered unregistered securities through its sale of XRP tokens. Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, has been a notable advocate for the administration within the cryptocurrency sector.
XRP, the native token of the XRP Ledger blockchain, has risen about 9% so far this year.