Key Takeaways
- Ripple Labs is executing a major $4 billion investment push to expand beyond cross-border crypto payments and into mainstream Wall Street finance with XRP.
- In 2025 alone, Ripple acquired firms like Hidden Road, Rail, and GTreasury to bolster its digital finance capabilities.
- After overcoming its legal battle with the SEC, Ripple’s valuation and confidence have surged.
Blockchain firm Ripple Labs, led by Chief Executive Brad Garlinghouse, has launched a multibillion-dollar initiative to expand its reach from cross-border payments into the heart of Wall Street with XRP.
In an interview with CNBC, Garlinghouse said the firm was pursuing traditional finance with a new range of services built on its blockchain infrastructure.
Targeting Traditional Finance
The push into traditional markets comes as institutional adoption of blockchain and Web3 technology continues to surge.
“I want to see Ripple invest in the future and get ahead of where that market’s going,” Garlinghouse said Tuesday.
He added: “The assets we have been buying have been on the traditional finance side, so we can bring crypto-enabled solutions to that traditional financial world.”
To achieve this, Ripple has spent nearly $4 billion acquiring new companies to expand its empire.
Ripple’s Acquisition Spree
In April, the firm purchased institutional credit network Hidden Road for almost $1.3 billion.
Following this, in August, Ripple announced its intent to acquire Rail, a stablecoin-powered global payments platform.
The deal, worth $200 million, closed in October and aims to expand Ripple’s digital infrastructure footprint further.
In the same month, Ripple announced it was buying GTreasury for over $1 billion.
Following a year of significant acquisitions, Ripple recently announced its own brokerage, offering institutions access to spot market trading.
Speaking on stage at its annual Swell event in New York, Garlinghouse told the crowd that the company would likely slow down on purchases next year.
“We’ll probably slow down the acquisition binge in 2026, which makes our corporate development team very happy,” Garlinghouse said.
Ripple’s Stablecoin Push
Ripple has been deeply pursuing stablecoins for years, mirroring other financial heavyweights in the industry.
At its Swell 2025 conference, the firm announced a collaboration with Mastercard, WebBank, and Gemini to test blockchain-based card settlement using its regulated U.S. dollar stablecoin, RLUSD.
Under the trial, WebBank, which issues the Gemini Credit Card, will use RLUSD to complete settlement on Mastercard’s network through the XRP Ledger.
The process aims to compress settlement windows from several days to near real-time.
The initiative marks one of the earliest instances of a U.S.-licensed bank conducting card settlement directly on a public blockchain with a regulated stablecoin.
Driving XRP
XRP, developed by Ripple over ten years ago, was engineered to serve as a bridge asset for transferring value between currencies and across borders.
Transactions on the XRP Ledger settle within seconds and incur only minimal fees, making it a contender to the more incumbent processes that dominate global banking through systems like SWIFT.
Speaking to CNBC, Garlinghouse said he wants to eventually lend XRP technology to bigger institutions.
“The more we can build utility and really scale solutions that take advantage of XRP at the core, the more that will be uniquely good for the XRP ecosystem,” Garlinghouse said.
However, he noted that dealmaking may be on the back foot right now as efforts remain stunted to create clear guardrails for crypto in the U.S.
Fresh Cash Injection
The year is ending on a high note for Ripple after it secured a major new funding round on Nov. 5, 2025, drawing strong support from Fortress Investment Group and affiliates of Citadel Securities.
This capital raise follows a $1 billion tender offer earlier in the year, completed at the same valuation.
After successfully overcoming its prolonged legal battle with the SEC, the company has regained momentum, with XRP surpassing $3 in August.
Garlinghouse described the raise as “the cherry on top of a mountain of good news.”
Kurt Robson is a London-based reporter at CCN, specialising in the fast-moving worlds of crypto and emerging technology. He began his career covering local news in Cornwall after graduating from Falmouth University with First Class Honours in Journalism. There, he cut his teeth on everything from council meetings to missing swans.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a frontline journalist at several of the UK’s leading national newspapers. Over the years, he has interviewed musicians and celebrities, reported from courtrooms and crime scenes, and secured multiple front-page exclusives.
Following the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurt shifted his focus to technology journalism—just ahead of the AI boom. With a natural curiosity and a trained eye for emerging trends, he has found a new rhythm in reporting on innovation.
At CCN, Kurt's work focuses on the cutting edge of crypto, blockchain, AI, and the evolving digital world. Drawing on his background in people-first reporting and his deep interest in disruptive tech, Kurt delivers stories that are insightful, entertaining, and human-centric.
