Ripple Is Now Competing with Coinbase to Acquire Circle

According to a Friday report by Fortune, Ripple is now competing with Coinbase for the acquisition of fintech company Circle.

Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) is now competing with Ripple (CRYPTO: XRP) for the acquisition of fintech company Circle, reports Fortune on Friday, citing several private equity and banking executives.

It was reported last month by Bloomberg that Circle had turned down an offer from Ripple to be acquired for up to $5 billion, as the sum was said to be too small. Some social media accounts started rumors that Ripple might increase its bid to $20 billion.

One source told Fortune that Circle would prefer to be acquired by Coinbase. The two companies already have a close working relationship. In 2018, Circle and Coinbase teamed up to launch the highly successful USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin through the Center Consortium, which they formed together.

Fortune claims that Circle would be open to being acquired by Coinbase. However, as of now, the company is still planning to pursue its own initial public offering (IPO) plans, which were disclosed earlier this year.

Also Read: Is It Still Possible For Coinbase To Acquire Circle In 2023?

Ripple is also in a strong financial position to acquire Circle due to its vast holdings of XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), which are valued at over $90 billion at current prices. As reported by U.Today, Bitwise President Teddy Fusaro recently stated that Ripple could purchase a significant number of companies with its existing XRP funds.

Both Ripple and Coinbase have been actively involved in making acquisitions. Recently, Ripple closed a $1.25 billion deal to buy prime brokerage Hidden Road, while Coinbase is poised to finalize the largest M&A transaction in crypto history with the pending acquisition of Deribit for a price tag of nearly $3 billion.