Exclusive-Ripple to buy stablecoin platform Rail for $200 million
Ripple, a crypto company that issues the token XRP as well as its own stablecoin called RLUSD, has invested heavily in stablecoin infrastructure in recent months.
The acquisition - which will close in the fourth quarter of this year pending regulatory approvals - will enable Ripple and Rail to "deliver the most comprehensive stablecoin payments solution available in the market," it said.
"As regulations become more clear and the space has grown and matured, this opportunity for stablecoin payments is really ripe, and the acquisition of Rail just really solidifies our market leadership in stablecoin payments," said Monica Long, president of Ripple in an interview.
Toronto-based Rail, backed by Galaxy Ventures and Accomplice, uses stablecoins to deploy cross-border payments. It says its transactions are cheaper and can clear in just hours, compared to longer settlement times for fiat payments.
Rail says on its website that the company is responsible for 10 per cent of all global stablecoin-based payment activity.
Trump in July signed a bill into law to create a federal regulatory regime for stablecoins, which analysts said could allow digital assets to become an everyday way to make payments and move money.
Stablecoins are designed to maintain a constant value, usually a 1:1 U.S. dollar peg, and their use has exploded, notably by crypto traders moving funds between tokens.
Ripple said in April that it would also buy multi-asset prime broker Hidden Road in a $1.25 billion deal, one of its largest acquisitions yet, which it said would enhance RLUSD's utility.
Ripple launched RLUSD, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, last year, as it sought to disrupt the market dominated by Tether and Circle's USDC.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
15 hours ago
- CNA
White House crypto adviser Bo Hines announces departure
WASHINGTON :Bo Hines, who headed Republican President Donald Trump's Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, said on Saturday he was leaving his current role and returning to the private sector. Late last month, a cryptocurrency working group led by Hines and including several administration officials outlined the Trump administration's stance on market-defining crypto legislation and called on the U.S. securities regulator to create new rules specific to digital assets. Shortly after taking office in January, Trump had ordered the creation of the crypto working group and tasked it with proposing new regulations, making good on his campaign promise to overhaul U.S. crypto policy. "Serving in President Trump's administration and working alongside our brilliant AI & Crypto Czar @DavidSacks as Executive Director of the White House Crypto Council has been the honor of a lifetime," Hines said in a post on X on Saturday. Sacks, the White House AI czar, praised Hines in response to the post announcing his departure. Hines has twice unsuccessfully run for Congress in North Carolina. Trump last month signed a law to create a regulatory regime for dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies known as stablecoins, a milestone that could pave the way for the digital assets to become an everyday way to make payments and move money. Hines was a backer of that legislation, dubbed the GENIUS Act.
CNA
a day ago
- CNA
Trump-backed World Liberty proposes $1.5 billion crypto holder, Bloomberg News reports
World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture backed by U.S. President Donald Trump's family, is sounding out investors for a $1.5 billion fundraising meant to set up a public company that will hold its WLFI tokens, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The structure of the deal is yet to be finalised, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter, adding that large investors in the crypto and tech space had been approached for the venture. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. World Liberty declined to comment. World Liberty, a "decentralised platform" which counts Donald Trump and his sons as co-founders according to its website, has earned the family $500 million since its launch, according to Reuters' calculations. World Liberty tokens, known as $WLFI, are not classified as securities by the Securities and Exchange Commission and are hence not subject to the same level of scrutiny as investments like stocks.
CNA
2 days ago
- CNA
Average US tariffs top 20%, back to 1910s levels: WTO and IMF
PARIS: The average US tariff rate has risen to 20.1 per cent, its highest level since the early 1910s – except for a brief spike earlier this year, after new duties took effect on Thursday (Aug 7), data from the World Trade Organization (WTO) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) showed on Friday. The figure is far above the 2.4 per cent average in place when President Donald Trump took office on Jan 20, 2017. Trump's April 2 announcement of 'reciprocal' tariffs on the United States' main trading partners, followed by further increases on Chinese goods, briefly drove the average rate to 24.8 per cent in May, a figure last seen in 1904, according to the United States International Trade Commission. A trade truce later eased the record tariff levels between Washington and Beijing, but that arrangement is set to expire next week. TRADE DEALS AND NEW DUTIES The WTO and IMF calculations factor in recent US trade agreements with the European Union, Japan, South Korea and other nations, which have now taken effect. The figures also include the latest US tariffs applied to Brazil, Canada and imports of semi-finished copper. These agreements generally imposed lower tariffs than those threatened by Trump in April, but were still higher than the baseline 10 per cent rate introduced earlier in his administration. RATES AT HISTORIC HIGHS The updated average exceeds the nearly 20 per cent rate the United States imposed in the 1930s – an era of protectionism that economists widely believe deepened and prolonged the Great Depression. However, the WTO and IMF stressed that the rate is based on 2024 trade volumes. Actual impacts may differ, as companies have already altered behaviour by stockpiling goods, delaying purchases or shifting suppliers to avoid higher duties. According to the Budget Lab at Yale University, once changes in consumption patterns and knock-on effects are considered, the effective rate could drop to about 17.7 per cent – unless Trump imposes further duties.
