Ripple (XRP) Token Creator Quietly Offered to Buy USDC Issuer Circle for $4B to $5B

In the dynamic realm of digital assets, where fortunes are made and lost in the twinkling of a coin, rumors of a potential merger between two crypto giants — Ripple and Circle — have set the airwaves abuzz.

best known for its XRP token, reportedly made an unsolicited bid to acquire , the issuer of the $60 billion USDC stablecoin, in recent weeks, according to a report by Bloomberg. The bid, which valued Circle at between $4 billion and $5 billion, has since been rejected.

However, the approach itself speaks volumes. Having previously focused on cross-border payments with its XRP token, Ripple has been making a strong push into the emerging stablecoin market.

Earlier this year, the firm unveiled a new payments service called Spark, which is designed to allow businesses and consumers to make and receive cross-border payments in various fiat currencies. The service is powered by Ripple’s new stablecoin, which is fully backed by a basket of major currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, euro, and Japanese yen.

The service is also designed to support central bank digital currencies, also known as CBDCs.

Meanwhile, Circle is planning to go public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) on the fourth quarter of this year. The move comes as a cohort of crypto-related firms, such as Coinbase and Galaxy Digital, are aiming to transition to public stock exchanges.

Earlier this month, Circle filed paperwork for an initial public offering. A spokesperson for the firm declined to comment further.

“We do not comment on market rumors,” the spokesperson said, adding that the firm is in a mandatory “quiet period” with the Securities and Exchange Commission due to the pending IPO. “Our long-term goals remain the same: to build the best-in-generation financial products and services that are open to everyone.”