Charles Hoskinson Weighs in on the Buyout Attempts Targeting Circle

Charles Hoskinson, CEO of IO and founder of Cardano (ADA), recently aired his take on the issue surrounding the acquisition attempts

Charles Hoskinson, the CEO of IO and founder of Cardano (ADA), recently shared his thoughts on the potential acquisition of Circle by cryptocurrency industry giants following its IPO (initial public offering) filing.

While Ripple and Coinbase were initally vying for the company's attention, Hoskinson expressed his preference for Ripple to take over Circle despite its previous bid being rejected.

"I'd rather see Ripple acquire Circle, despite the rumors that Coinbase is now in the running for the acquisition after Ripple's $5 billion bid was rejected by Circle, which is apparently asking for $11 billion, according to rumors," Hoskinson stated in a recent video.

According to the Cardano founder, Circle merging with Ripple would be better for the crypto space as it would provide diversity and healthy competition against a monopoly from the "Coinbase-a16z-Circle mafia." This mafia operates within a "self-serving ecosystem," he claimed.

Furthermore, Hoskinson criticized Coinbase for unfairly blacklisting other players. With the crypto exchange in control of Circle, it could rig the system to make it hard for potential competitors to get a listing. This would paralyze their access to liquidity for their stablecoins.

"It would make no sense for Coinbase to integrate Circle's technology and brand into its own ecosystem, ultimately stifling innovation and competition in the market," he added.

According to the crypto personality, the move would also make perfect business sense as he considers Ripple a better custodian than other alternatives.

"We know that Ripple is a strong company with a valuable technology and a deep understanding of the cross-border payments market," said Hoskinson. "It could be a good fit for Circle, and it would certainly be interesting to see how such a merger would play out."

As of Thursday morning, the total stablecoin market cap had already reached $246.554 billion according to DefiLlama data. Tether's USDT remained the most dominant in this market segment, with a $153.37 billion overall valuation, translating to a market dominance of over 62%.

Circle's USDC trailed USDT by a long shot at $61.29 billion, taking roughly 25% market share. Ethena's USDe, a synthetic stablecoin also pegged 1:1 to the US dollar, held the third spot with its $5.2 billion market cap and 2% market share. Dai and Sky Dollar (USDS) clinched the fourth and fifth ranks, respectively.