- Ripple reportedly offered US$5 billion for stablecoin firm Circle, which was rejected, with rumours of a subsequent US$20 billion offer emerging.
- Circle has filed for an IPO on the NYSE, but Fortune reports they might sell to either Ripple or Coinbase instead, seeking at least US$5 billion.
- Despite these reports, Circle officially maintains they are “not for sale” and their long-term goal of pursuing an IPO remains unchanged.
- If Ripple were to acquire Circle, analysts suggest XRP could benefit significantly as Ripple aims to dominate payments, control stablecoin infrastructure, and position XRP as the default bridge currency.
As reported previously, Ripple is looking at buying stablecoin firm Circle. The San Francisco-based fintech company made a US$5 billion (AU$7.75 billion) takeover offer, which was rejected. Rumours circulated that Ripple made a second, much more generous offer of US$20 billion (AU$31 billion).
Now, it’s Circle itself that is making headlines. Not long ago, Circle filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the aim of getting listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
However, according to a report by Fortune, it may not come to that. The magazine cited sources which claim that Circle is considering selling itself to either Ripple or crypto exchange Coinbase.
Circle For Sale? Not For Sale?
People who asked to remain anonymous say Circle is looking for at least US$5 billion. Fortune quotes one person saying that Circle would be more than happy to sell to Coinbase.
If Coinbase wanted to buy them, Circle would sell in a heartbeat.
Anonymous source
Another person said that “things change week by week”, although this doesn’t tell us much, it shows that the situation remains fluid.
According to Fortune, Circle told the magazine that the company is “not for sale” and that its “long-term goals remain the same”. Meaning the IPO should still go ahead as planned.
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USDC, the stablecoin issued by Circle, is the second largest stablecoin with a market cap of US$60 billion (AU$93 billion) and a 24-hour volume of US$13 billion (AU$8.4 billion). For comparison, Tether (USDT) has a market cap of US$305 billion (AU$472 billion) and a 24-hour volume of US$93 billion (AU$144 billion).
Ripple has its own stablecoin, RLUSD, but it is far behind in market cap (US$312 million; AU$483 million) and daily volume (US$313 million; AU$485 million).
Ripple Wants to Dominate Payments Market
If Ripple were to acquire Circle, analysts have suggested that XRP could benefit greatly. All Things XRP said on Crypto Twitter that Ripple is committed to “dominate payments, own stablecoin rails, and make XRP the default bridge”.
Ripple acquired prime-brokerage Hidden Road at US$1.25 billion (AU$1.93 billion) in April. The company also just rolled out its cross-border payments platform in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in cooperation with Zand Bank and Mamo.
It remains to be seen if Coinbase or Ripple gets to seal the deal; it would be bullish for either company and for the entire crypto sector.
Coinbase and Circle co-founded the Centre Consortium in 2018 to issue the USDC stablecoin; when that venture ended in 2023, Coinbase received an equity stake in Circle and Circle took over sole governance of USDC.
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