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- 1 Ripple acquired Fortress Trust, which is its second acquisition this year after buying Metaco for $250 Million.
- 2 Ripple made the announcement this Friday about the acquisition.
On September 8, 2023, Friday, Ripple, the crypto firm, announced that it acquired Fortress Trust, part of the Fortress IO suite of companies. Notably, Fortress Trust’s financial and regulatory infrastructure complements and expands its comprehensive portfolio of blockchain solutions for finance.
Ripple’s Second Acquisition of This Year
Ripple agreed to acquire Fortress Trust, a financial institution that provides licensed Web3 financial, regulatory, and technology infrastructure for blockchain innovators. As Ripple added in its official press release, through its technology and licensing, Fortress Trust provides critical infrastructure to address the growing enterprise crypto market. It also complements its business and product roadmap.
The news follows Ripple’s recent acquisition of crypto custody provider Metaco for $250 Million. This was one of the largest deals in the crypto space in 2023.
With this acquisition, Ripple’s growing portfolio of regulatory licenses also expands, as Fortress Trust holds a Nevada Trust license. Its other subsidiaries collectively hold “a NY BitLicense, over 30 Money Transmitter Licenses across the U.S., and an in-principle Major Payment Institution License from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the country’s Central Bank.”
According to Ripple, it became a minority investor in Fortress Blockchain Technologies last year as part of its seed funding. After the closure of the deal, it will also invest in its parent company, Fortress Blockchain Technologies and its FortressPay services. This will leverage the global technology and regulatory framework it has built to deliver new and innovative payment solutions to B2B customers around the world. However, the deal closure is subject to due diligence and regulatory approvals.
Statements From the Officials
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, said over the acquisition that “as an early investor in Fortress Trust, we’ve had a chance to get to know the team, its vision and technology. Since their launch in 2021, they’ve built an impressive business with recurring revenue and a strong roster of both crypto-native and new-to-crypto customers.”
“We’re excited to bring on this team and its technology to accelerate our business and continue pressing our advantage in the areas critical to crypto infrastructure,” Garlinghouse further said.
Monica Long, President at Ripple, also said “Licenses are a powerful enabler to build and deliver best-in-class customer experiences for enterprises using Ripple’s crypto infrastructure across our payments and liquidity solutions.”
Scott Purcell, CEO of Fortress Blockchain Technologies, further said “We’re extremely pleased that Fortress Trust will be acquired by Ripple, one of the largest and most innovative companies in the industry – it’s a testament to the team and business that we’ve built in a short period of time. Furthermore, we look forward to continuing to collaborate and deepening our partnership with our Web3 payments solution.”
Steve Anderson is an Australian crypto enthusiast. He is a specialist in management and trading for over 5 years. Steve has worked as a crypto trader, he loves learning about decentralisation, understanding the true potential of the blockchain.
