Ripple is buying Rail, a stablecoin payments platform, for $200 million, the firm said on Thursday.
The deal is likely to close in the fourth quarter of this year, the statement said. Rail is a Toronto-based payments platform backed by Galaxy Ventures and Accomplice.
The Rail acquisition is a way for Ripple to delve deeper into the fast-growing stablecoin ecosystem after launching its RLUSD stablecoin in December last year.
RLUSD has a market cap of over $600 million, placing it in the top largest stablecoins, according to data tracked by CoinMarketCap.
Ripple previously had offered to buy Circle (CRCL) for $4 billion-$5 billion, but that stablecoin giant ended up going public several weeks back. It’s since delivered amazing returns for its IPO investors.
Ripple acquired multi-asset prime brokerage firm Hidden Road for $1.25 billion in April, with plans to expand its clearing and finance operations, to the end of creating the world’s largest non-bank prime broker.
Now the acquisition of Rail will allow Ripple to deliver a more comprehensive stabecoin payments service, the company said in Thursday’s announcement. Rail’s capabilities include virtual accounts and automated back-office systems, enabling customers to transact in digital assets without the need to open dedicated crypto bank accounts or wallets on exchanges.
“Stablecoins are quickly becoming a cornerstone of modern finance, and with Rail, we are uniquely positioned to drive the next phase of innovation and adoption of stablecoins and blockchain in global payments,” said Monica Long, Ripple President.
The deal was first reported by Reuters.
UPDATE (Aug. 7, 12:41 UTC): Updates headline and story with Ripple’s confirmation.
UPDATE (Aug. 7, 14:15 UTC): Adds paragraph on Ripple’s Hidden Road acquisition and more detail on RLUSD, Circle’s IPO and what Rail adds to Ripple.
