#StablecoinPayments Ripple’s Surprising Offer to Acquire Circle Shakes Up the Stablecoin Space

In a move that has drawn widespread attention across the crypto industry, Ripple—the company behind XRP—has reportedly made an acquisition offer for Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin. This isn’t just routine merger talk; it’s a major strategic maneuver.

Ripple has been steadily expanding its influence. In late 2024, it launched a new stablecoin called RLUSD. While RLUSD has already reached a market cap of $316.9 million, that’s still modest compared to USDC’s $61.7 billion dominance. Ripple clearly understands the need to scale quickly to boost its presence in the market.

The offer to acquire Circle follows Ripple’s $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road, a prime brokerage platform. That deal marked Ripple’s move beyond crypto and into traditional financial infrastructure. Buying Circle could have positioned Ripple as a serious contender in the global stablecoin competition.