Ripple CEO Rejects Claims of $5 Billion Offer to Buy Circle

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has firmly denied recent reports claiming his company made a $4 to $5 billion offer to acquire stablecoin issuer Circle. During a conversation with Georgetown Law professor Chris Brummer at the Ripple Las Vegas conference, Garlinghouse stated that Ripple never pursued any deal to buy Circle.

Brummer shared on X (formerly Twitter) that Garlinghouse was “unequivocal” about Ripple’s position, saying the company wished Circle well but had no plans to acquire it. 

This contradicts a Bloomberg report suggesting Ripple made a formal offer that Circle rejected for being too low. Coinbase also reportedly made a counteroffer, but Circle confirmed that it is “not for sale.”

Circle is about to start trading publicly, with a valuation of $7.2 billion and a target price of $27 to $28 per share using the ticker CRCL. In 2022, the company ended a deal to merge with a SPAC valued at $9 billion.

Ripple is also working on its own stablecoin, RLUSD which it will introduce once the New York Department of Financial Services gives its approval. Currently, RLUSD’s market cap is $310 million which is much lower than Circle’s $61.5 billion.

Brummer noted Ripple’s strategy focuses on building bridges between traditional finance and crypto. Ripple recently spent $1.25 billion to acquire Hidden Road, a credit network clearing $3 trillion annually, showing its interest in real-world financial connections.