A major development has taken place in the crypto world. According to reports, Ripple had offered $4 to $5 billion to buy Circle, the maker of USDC Stablecoins, which Circle rejected. This information has come to light from a Bloomberg report, which was shared on social media by VanEck’s digital asset research head Matthew Sigel.
Ripple’s big intention
Ripple launched its stablecoin, RLUSD, in December 2023, which currently has a market cap of around $317 million. However, Circle’s USDC is a big player in this space, with a market value of over $61 billion. Ripple’s attempt to buy Circle is being seen as a strategy to strengthen its hold in this sector.
Circle rejected the offer
According to a Bloomberg report, Circle found Ripple’s offer to be of low value, so they rejected it. At present, Circle has not made any public comment on this offer, as the company has recently applied for an IPO (Initial Public Offering) and is currently in a ‘Quiet Period’ with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission).
Circle’s supporters did say that the company is focusing on its long-term vision and is currently moving forward on its path to becoming a public company.
Ripple’s takeover campaign
Ripple is currently expanding rapidly in the crypto sector. In April 2025, the company acquired a digital asset prime brokerage firm called Hidden Road for $1.25 billion. Ripple seeks to establish itself as a leader in the digital assets and stablecoin sector.
According to recently revealed data, 70% of the supply of Ripple’s Stablecoin RLUSD is present on Ethereum, while it was originally designed for the XRP Ledger (XRPL). This data is raising new questions about Ripple’s network strategy and token distribution.
This strategy of Ripple may have been adopted with the aim of ensuring faster adoption and increasing interoperability. However, this move also indicates that Ripple is trying to make a deeper inroad into the world of DeFi by going beyond its original network XRPL.
It will be interesting to see how the network distribution of RLUSD changes in the future and how Ripple further leverages it in the DeFi space.
Market boom and new deals
All these events are happening at a time when the crypto market is seeing a boom again and many companies are preparing for IPO. Companies like BitGo, Gemini and Bullish are also working towards entering the public market.
Ripple’s attempt to buy Circle is an indication that the company wants to establish its dominance in the Stablecoin Market. Although Circle has rejected this offer, it gives a glimpse of the future strategy of both companies. While Circle is focusing on becoming a public company, Ripple is busy expanding its network through big deals.