Ripple CEO Denies $5 Billion Offer to Acquire Circle Amid Growing Stablecoin Competition

In a surprising turn of events, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has revealed that the company made no offer to acquire Circle, the USDC issuer. News was circulating in the media that Ripple had made an offer of between $4 and $5 billion to acquire Circle. However, Garlinghouse has refuted the recent Bloomberg report and deemed it inaccurate.

Garlinghouse cleared up the confusion while speaking at the Ripple Las Vegas conference, while in conversation with Georgetown Law professor Chris Brummer. The CEO made it clear that his company never approached Circle with any acquisition proposal. He said, “We wished them well, but there was no intention or attempt to buy Circle.”

Ripple Denies $5 Billion Offer for Circle

It was not just Garlinghouse who cleared up the confusion. Brummer took to X and further emphasized that Garlinghouse was “unequivocal” in denying any such move by Ripple. These statements directly reject the Bloomberg report that alleged that Ripple made an irresistible offer to Circle, which was rejected because it was deemed undervalued. In the same report, Bloomberg suggested that Coinbase expressed their interest in acquiring Circle, but the company maintained its “not for sale” status.

The denial comes at a pivotal time for Circle, which is preparing to go public with a valuation of $7.2 billion. The company is expected to trade under the ticker symbol CRCL at a target price of $27 to $28 per share. This IPO was filed after a now-terminated 2022 plan to merge with a SPAC at a $9 billion valuation.

The market dynamics of both Circle and Ripple are intensifying as both firms are rapidly expanding their presence in the stablecoin sector. While Circle’s USDC already has a huge following, Ripple is currently developing its own stablecoin, RLUSD. The RLUSD is pending regulatory approval from the New York Department of Financial Services. RLUSD’s current market cap stands at $310 million, which is substantially lower than Circle’s $61.5 billion market cap.

Ripple’s expansion strategy is more focused on financial and infrastructure connectivity than acquisition. Recently, the company purchased Hidden Road, a global credit network, for $1.25 billion. Hidden Road handles $3 trillion in transactions every year. While the rumors of a Ripple/Circle acquisition are baseless, the wider competition among stablecoin producers highlights the sector's increasing significance in global finance. Both companies continue to be major actors in the changing digital asset market, with Circle moving toward a public offering and Ripple growing its ecosystem.