- Brad Garlinghouse highlighted Ripple’s acquisition of prime brokerage firm Hidden Road to enhance the use of Ripple’s stablecoin, RLUSD.
- He discussed how Dubai authorities, in collaboration with Ripple and other organizations, are leveraging the XRP Ledger for real estate tokenization.
Speaking at the XRP Las Vegas conference, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse addressed speculation about his firm possibly buying USDC issuer Circle. Chris Brummer, a fintech policy expert, participated in the event and shared the main points of the conversation afterwards on X (formerly Twitter).
Ripple CEO Puts Full Stop On Circle Acquisition Rumors
According to the rumors that started in April, Ripple offered Circle an initial bid from $4 billion to $5 billion. The reports that surfaced later claimed that Ripple increased its offer massively, putting the company’s value at between $10 billion and $20 billion.
These rumors sparked countless discussions on social media as people even claimed that the company behind XRP is competing with Coinbase to acquire Circle. However, Brad Garlinghouse finally broke silence on this matter.
During his discussion with Brummer, Garlinghouse pointed out that Ripple had not put forward a proposal with such a huge valuation range. Though he did not specify whether an initial offer was ever made, Garlinghouse’s remarks indicated that no acquisition in the $10–$20 billion range was on the table. He also confirmed that Ripple was not in active talks to buy the entirety of Circle.
Earlier, Circle has also dismissed these acquisition rumors. The company spokesperson said that they are dedicated to achieving their own strategic goals. Additionally, Circle is working towards an initial public offering (IPO), as mentioned in our previous story. Recently, the company gave notice of an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, hoping to sell 32 million shares of Class A common stock in the range of $27 to $8.
Garlinghouse Discusses RLUSD, Dubai Integration
Apart from clearing the air on Circle acquisition, Garlinghouse explained some of the strategic plans Ripple is pursuing. Among the top changes is Ripple buying prime brokerage firm Hidden Road. Garlinghouse believes this development is done to increase the use of Ripple’s stablecoin, RLUSD.
Now, as RLUSD enters Hidden Road’s brokerage operations, it can act as collateral while allowing the firm to widen the uses for stablecoins. He said this approach is the same as designing the basic infrastructure for a city.
Garlinghouse also covered the increasing use cases of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) for practical purposes. He specifically pointed out that authorities in Dubai have picked XRPL to be part of a real estate tokenization plan, as reported by CNF yesterday.
Together with the Dubai Future Foundation and the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority as partners, the Dubai Land Department plans to use the XRPL platform to issue digital copies of property title deeds. Garlinghouse remarked that tokenization is no longer a theoretical concept, especially in regions like the United Arab Emirates where practical implementations are taking root.
