Ripple, the leader in enterprise blockchain and crypto solutions, announced today that it has acquired Fortress Trust, a provider of licensed Web3 financial, regulatory and technology infrastructure for blockchain innovators. Fortress Trust’s technology and license complement Ripple’s business and product roadmap, addressing the growing institutional crypto market. This news comes after Ripple acquired crypto custody provider Metaco for $250 million in 2023.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said, “As an early investor in Fortress Trust, 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. We’re excited to bring on this team and its technology to accelerate our business and continue pressing our advantage in the areas critical to crypto infrastructure.”
This acquisition expands Ripple’s regulatory license portfolio in the US, as Fortress Trust holds a Trust License in Nevada. Ripple and its subsidiaries collectively hold a BitLicense for virtual currency businesses in New York, more than 30 Money Transfer Licenses in the US and an in-principle Major Payment Institution License from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the central bank of Singapore.
Ripple President Monica Long said, “Licenses are a powerful enabler to build and deliver best-in-class customer experiences for enterprises using Ripple’s crypto infrastructure across our payments and liquidity solutions. Acquiring Fortress Trust affords us a lot of optionality to both improve the current customer experience in our existing products and explore new, complementary products – all in service of becoming the one-stop shop for enterprises looking to convert, store, and move value on blockchain around the world.”
Most known for its flagship payment products, Ripple was the first company to address the trillion-dollar pain points in international payments using blockchain and cryptocurrency. The company focused on building blockchain-based payment infrastructure from scratch before expanding its product offerings to address new use cases such as tokenization and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). Today Ripple serves hundreds of customers across 55 countries and 6 continents, offering payment capabilities in over 70 markets.
