Ripple to acquire BC Payments to secure Australian license

Ripple announced today that it plans to acquire BC Payments to secure an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) as it seeks to expand its presence in the Asia Pacific region.

In a Tuesday statement, Ripple said that obtaining the AFSL through the acquisition will enable the company to offer Ripple Payments, an end-to-end payments platform that manages the "full lifecycle" of a transaction and integrates both traditional banking and crypto services.

"Australia is a key market for Ripple, and an AFSL strengthens our ability to scale Ripple Payments across the region," said Fiona Murray, managing director of APAC at Ripple. 

The financial terms of the BC Payments acquisition were not disclosed in the statement. The Block has reached out to Ripple for further comment.

Ripple said it currently holds over 75 regulatory licenses around the world, which places the company in a strong position to work with institutions seeking to expand into digital asset solutions and infrastructure. 

Last month, Ripple secured a full EU Electronic Money Institution license in Luxembourg. In late 2025, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted Ripple a conditional approval to become a national trust bank charter.

XRP (XRP), created and promoted by Ripple, is currently the fifth-largest crypto asset in the world with $85.1 billion in market capitalization. It was trading at $1.39 as of 10:13 p.m. ET, up 1.3% in the past 24 hours, according to The Block's XRP price page.

Meanwhile, Ripple's dollar-pegged stablecoin RLUSD has around $1.6 billion in market cap, placing it as the 10th-largest stablecoin. In January, Ripple inked a partnership with LMAX Group to expand RLUSD's institutional usage.