According to Financial Times News, Ripple has secured $500 million in funding from investors including Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities and Fortress Investment Group, valuing the stablecoin company at $40 billion. The investment round also included hedge funds Brevan Howard and Marshall Wace, plus crypto investors Pantera Capital and Galaxy Digital. Ripple runs its own stablecoin RLUSD with a $1 billion nominal value and manages XRP, the world’s fourth-largest cryptocurrency at $133 billion market cap. The company recently offered to buy back $1 billion of its shares from employees and investors at this same valuation. This fundraising comes as Congress passed landmark stablecoin regulations this year, making the sector more accessible to traditional financial institutions.
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Wall Street’s crypto pivot
Here’s the thing – this isn’t just another crypto funding round. When Citadel Securities, one of the most powerful market makers on Wall Street, puts serious money into a crypto company, it signals a fundamental shift. We’re seeing traditional finance giants basically admitting that stablecoins aren’t going away and might actually become the plumbing for future financial systems.
And the timing isn’t accidental. With Trump making crypto a “strategic national focus” and Congress actually passing clear regulations this year, the regulatory uncertainty that kept big players on the sidelines is starting to clear. These institutions aren’t betting on Bitcoin moon shots – they’re betting on the boring infrastructure that makes crypto useful for actual business.
Ripple’s expanding empire
Ripple’s playing a much bigger game than just running a stablecoin. Look at their acquisition spree – they bought crypto prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, corporate treasury management company GTreasury for $1 billion, and stablecoin infrastructure provider Rail for $200 million. They’re building an entire financial ecosystem.
CEO Brad Garlinghouse isn’t shy about their ambitions either. He called this funding “further validation of the market opportunity we’re aggressively pursuing.” And with $95 billion in payments processed on their platform in what they call their “best year” in 2025, they’re clearly scaling rapidly.
The stablecoin landscape shifts
This $40 billion valuation puts Ripple ahead of Circle, which runs the world’s second-biggest stablecoin USDC and is valued at $26 billion after its NYSE listing. That’s significant because Circle has traditionally been the Wall Street-friendly stablecoin player.
But here’s what’s interesting – Ripple’s RLUSD currently has only a $1 billion nominal value compared to USDC’s massive circulation. So investors are clearly betting on Ripple’s infrastructure and potential, not just their current stablecoin market share. They’re valuing the entire platform – the payments, custody, and corporate services – not just the digital dollar equivalent.
Where does this lead?
The real question is whether stablecoins will actually become the digital cash they promise to be. Proponents argue they enable faster, cheaper payments than traditional systems. Large companies are already exploring them for cross-border payments and collateral management.
But let’s be real – we’ve heard these promises before. The difference now is that when firms like Citadel and Fortress put half a billion dollars on the table, they’re not just speculating. They’re making a calculated bet that stablecoins will become fundamental infrastructure. And with Trump’s administration openly embracing crypto, the political winds have shifted dramatically. This might actually be the moment crypto goes mainstream through the back door – not via Bitcoin, but through boring, useful stablecoins.
