'XRP is the North Star for Ripple': Garlinghouse keeps door open for more M&A in second half of 2026
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said Wednesday that although it's unlikely his company will pursue more acquisitions in the near term, he might consider new deals later this year.
"It's definitely gonna be a year of more integration. I don't think you should expect any other big acquisitions," Garlinghouse said during an XRP Community Day event. "But you never know, the second half of the year we'll start maybe looking to be more acquisitive again."
While Garlinghouse's tone suggested it's unlikely Ripple will go on the type of buying spree it did in 2025, the fact that the executive is open to the possibility of more deals later this year is noteworthy. Outside Tether, few crypto companies have spent as much as Ripple in recent months.
Last year, the company invested "approximately $4 billion into the crypto ecosystem" through investments, mergers, and acquisitions. That included buying Hidden Road for $1.25 billion and GTreasury for $1 billion.
GTreasury, considered a "leader in treasury management systems" when Ripple bought the company, is a platform that provides risk management and FX tools alongside compliance and audit frameworks. Before being acquired by Ripple, Hidden Road operated as a global credit network, clearing $3 trillion annually while serving more than 300 institutional customers.
Since the acquisitions, Ripple rebranded Hidden Road as Ripple Prime and GTreasury as Ripple Treasury. All are now focused on servicing the XRP ecosystem, according to Garlinghouse.
XRP, the token largely associated with Ripple Labs, is the third-largest cryptocurrency, with a market cap of $83 billion. XRP trades around $1.37.
"
XRP is the North Star for Ripple. It's our purpose," Garlinghouse said. "When we think about what we're doing on Ripple payments, Ripple Prime or Ripple Treasury, or custody, or RLUSD, this is all focused on how we can drive utility, trust, and velocity, or liquidity, around XRP and the XRP ledger."Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
You may also like
Intel CEO: CPU only meets 50% of demand, 14A to start production in Q1 next year, new architecture may reduce inference power consumption to 1/15 of GPU
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger stated that the era of AI agents has triggered an explosion in CPU demand, and Intel is currently able to meet only about 50% of its customers' supply needs, with several tech giant CEOs calling to secure supply. In terms of manufacturing process, the 18A node is now in full mass production, while the 14A node will begin production in the first quarter of next year. By opening up factory data, yield rates are improving by about 7% annually. Additionally, he is advancing neuromorphic computing to address energy consumption bottlenecks and expects quantum computing to have a substantial industrial impact within 3 to 5 years.
Reportedly, the US urges Japan to "increase" defense spending; Tokyo considers a 3.5% GDP target, bond market and yen come under pressure first
Under pressure from the United States, Japan is considering setting a new medium-term defense spending target, planning to increase its defense expenditure to 3.5% of GDP to align with NATO and other U.S. allies.
The logic of "cheap yen financing" is changing! Funds are reallocating "carry trades" as Swiss franc and Swedish krona compete for the funding currency position
The appeal of yen financing has diminished, and carry traders have recently turned their attention to the franc and the krona. With the yen’s recent surge making it a less reliable investment option, currencies such as the Swedish krona and Swiss franc are becoming primary funding choices for carry trades.
Crypto prices
More
