Ripple has raised $500mn from investors including Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities and Fortress Investment Group, valuing the stablecoin company at $40bn.
The fundraising highlights the demand among investors for stablecoin groups as traditional financial institutions increasingly view the digital tokens as an important new form of payments.
The US under Donald Trump has embraced the crypto industry. Congress passed landmark rules overseeing the stablecoin sector this year, paving the way for traditional Wall Street players to be more involved with the tokens. Other investors in Ripple in the fundraising included hedge funds Brevan Howard and Marshall Wace, and US crypto investors Pantera Capital and Galaxy Digital, the company said on Wednesday.
The investment round from big traditional financiers highlights their increasing appetite for crypto companies now that the industry has become more acceptable thanks to Trump’s government, which has made crypto a strategic national focus. Ripple chief executive Brad Garlinghouse said the funding round reflected “further validation of the market opportunity we’re aggressively pursuing”. Ripple is seeking to become a major player in stablecoins and stablecoin infrastructure. The San Francisco-based company was founded in 2012 and has grown to provide services including payments and custody to fintechs and large corporate clients.
The company runs its own stablecoin, RLUSD, which has a nominal market value of $1bn, and a cryptocurrency, XRP, that circulates at $133bn and is the fourth-biggest token in the world. Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency pegged 1:1 to sovereign currencies such as the dollar and are typically backed by assets such as US Treasuries. They act as a form of digital cash and are mainly used by traders to quickly move between crypto tokens and traditional currencies, while large companies are exploring using them to facilitate cross-border payments and collateral management. Proponents say that stablecoins allow payments to be made more quickly and cheaply than existing payment methods.
Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email [email protected] to purchase additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour. https://www.ft.com/content/2b27ff66-aae1-4779-a7e7-16c856840139 Ripple’s $40bn valuation puts it ahead of its US rival Circle, which runs the world’s second-biggest stablecoin, USDC. Circle is currently valued at $26bn after listing on the New York Stock Exchange in May. It also makes Ripple one of the most highly valued private crypto companies. It recently offered to buy $1bn of its shares from employees and investors at the $40bn valuation. It said 2025 had been its best year and the value of payments made on its platform had surpassed $95bn.
Ripple has made several acquisitions in recent years as it seeks to expand its activities. This year it has bought crypto prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25bn, corporate treasury management company GTreasury for $1bn and stablecoin infrastructure provider Rail for $200mn.