Ripple acquires Fortress Trust, which will use Ripple payments tech for FortressPay
Quick Take
- Ripple has acquired Fortress Trust just a few months after it splashed $250 million on Swiss custody startup Metaco.
Crypto payments firm Ripple continues its acquisitive streak with a deal to purchase Fortress Trust, a blockchain infrastructure firm.
The news comes after a busy summer of deal-making for Ripple, which splashed $250 million to snap up Swiss custody startup Metaco in May and also acquired a stake in Bitstamp, the crypto exchange.
The deal, announced this morning, expands Ripple’s collection of regulatory licenses. Through technology and licensing, Fortress Trust — a subsidiary of Fortress Blockchain Technologies that holds a Nevada Trust License — offers infrastructure services to enterprise crypto clients.
“As an early investor in Fortress Blockchain Technologies, we’ve had a chance to get to know the team, its vision and technology. Since their launch in 2021, they’ve built an impressive business with recurring revenue and a strong roster of both crypto-native and new-to-crypto customers,” said Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, in a statement.
From seed investor to acquirer
Ripple became a minority investor in Fortress’s parent company in 2022 as part of its $22.5 million seed round, which Ayon Capital led.
After today’s deal, terms of which were not disclosed, Ripple plans to continue to invest in Fortress and its FortressPay services — which will now make use of Ripple’s payments technology.
The deal remains subject to due diligence and regulatory approvals, per today’s announcement.
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