On April 30, 2025, Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources, reported that Ripple Labs had made an offer to acquire Circle Internet Financial, one of the largest players in the stablecoin market and the issuer of USDC. According to the publication, the deal was valued in the range of $4 billion to $5 billion and was rejected.
The publication caused a stir in the crypto community and became a topic of discussion among analysts and market participants. Is it possible that Ripple's attempt to gain control over Circle is not merely a desire to take over a competitor, but a strategic move that reveals the company’s broader ambitions?
The Coinpaper editorial team investigated the situation and gathered details about the process.
An Offer You Can Refuse
According to available information, Ripple allegedly offered to acquire Circle based on a valuation of $4–5 billion. These figures are based on market expectations ahead of Circle’s potential IPO and the opinions of experts. None of that, however, stopped the firm from responding with a rejection.
If journalists are to be believed, Circle considered the offer not only undervalued but also inconsistent with its strategic importance and long-term potential. In addition, the USDC issuer has long been considering the above-mentioned IPO.
Circle has previously attempted to go public. In 2022, it planned to list through a deal with a SPAC for up to $9 billion. However, no agreement was reached at the time.
The company filed for an IPO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in April 2025, targeting a Class A offering on the NYSE. Leading investment banks, including JPMorgan, Citi, and Deutsche Bank, were to underwrite the IPO, underscoring the high interest from institutional investors.
However, shortly after filing with the SEC, the company decided to postpone going public, according to the WSJ. The reason for this was reportedly the turmoil in the financial markets caused by the U.S. trade war.
Two days after Bloomberg’s publication, rumors began circulating online that Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse had raised the stakes to $20 billion. However, Grammarly fact-checking showed that these reports were based solely on social media posts that were not supported by any evidence.
A number of major influencers published a screenshot in which Ripple Labs CTO David Schwartz allegedly stated the company’s maximum offer was $6 billion. This information is also fake, and apparently, the firm’s representative did not make such statements.
At the time of writing, there is no confirmed information about a new offer, and the companies themselves do not comment on the situation or rumors of a possible takeover.
Hunting for a Giant
The attempt to acquire Circle looks like a logical continuation of Ripple’s strategy to strengthen its position in the market for tokenized assets and payment infrastructure. In December 2024, the company launched RLUSD, a dollar stablecoin backed by fiat reserves and U.S. Treasuries.
It runs both on XRP Ledger’s own blockchain and on the Ethereum network. According to the company’s statement, this expands its scope of use. At the time of writing, the market capitalization of the stablecoin is about $317 million, according to CoinMarketCap.
While the company considers RLUSD’s launch a success, it still lags significantly behind USDC (capitalization of around $61 billion) and USDT (over $149 billion). With Ripple’s share of global settlement limited and competition for institutional customers intensifying, control of a more mature ecosystem could provide a serious advantage, says crypto lawyer Bill Morgan.
“I just believe that the adoption of RLUSD is not happening fast enough to satisfy Ripple’s ambitions. RLUSD may have been part of a strategy to acquire Circle,” he noted.
Ripple has already shown its tendency for strategic acquisitions. In April 2025, the company announced its intention to purchase brokerage platform Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, according to a press release from the firm. This would provide it access to traditional liquidity and integration with classic markets.
Also in its portfolio are the custodial platform Metaco, a CBDC project to work with government agencies, and liquidity and payment routing solutions. There is a possibility that Ripple is ready to move from internal growth to external scaling through mergers, Forbes noted.
Circle
As for Circle, the company does not appear to be in need of a takeover by anyone. The USDC issuer is showing solid financial performance, which strengthens its negotiating position.
Based on documents filed with the SEC on Form S-1, the company had $1.68 billion in revenue in 2024. And 99% of that amount is interest income from reserves, which are U.S. Treasury securities and repo agreements. Despite the decrease from 2023 ($267.6 million vs. $155.7 million), Circle remained profitable for the second consecutive year.
It had positive cash flow from operations of $344.6 million, and its available assets reached $45.8 billion at the end of the period.
According to the IPO filing, the key growth areas for Circle are product diversification (including EURC, USYC, and payment APIs). In addition, the company is betting on expanding licenses in various jurisdictions and developing partnerships with major players-Coinbase, Binance, Visa, MoneyGram.
At the same time, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire regularly announces the successful promotion of various company products, be it the CCTP cross-chain data transfer protocol or the development of the EURC stablecoin.
Judging by the wording in documents and public statements, Circle has been quite successful in strengthening its market position. The rejection of Ripple’s offer fits logically into this strategy. Instead of teaming up with a competitor, Circle prefers to strengthen its own infrastructure and role in the emerging landscape of digital finance.
What’s the Bottom Line?
From a broader perspective, Circle is more than just a USDC issuer. It is a systemically important player in digital currencies, with a mature customer base, international licenses, and established relationships with regulators. For a company like Ripple looking for a large-scale presence in digital payments and assets, this acquisition represents strategic value.
A purchase of Circle could enormously strengthen Ripple’s position as a global provider of settlement infrastructure. In addition to the obvious benefits-over $60 billion in USDC capitalization, $25 trillion in transaction volume-the acquirer could gain control of integration points with major fintechs and Circle’s technology stack.
However, merging these companies is typically a lengthy process where acquisition talks can last for years. And even then, discussions are no guarantee of success when it comes to a billion-dollar deal. In addition, such agreements come with increased regulatory scrutiny, especially in the U.S. and EU.
An example of a failed merger attempt here is the case of Galaxy Digital and BitGo for $1.2 billion. The negotiations regarding the acquisition lasted almost two years, but in the end did not lead to a takeover.
Overall, we can say that Ripple’s possible attempt to buy Circle is not just a one-off deal, but part of a broader struggle for control of key infrastructure elements of the crypto market.
