Ripple Lands $500M Power Move as Fortress and Citadel Back $40B Valuation

TLDR:

• Ripple closed a $500 million investment led by Fortress and Citadel at a $40 billion company valuation.
• The funding followed Ripple’s $1 billion tender offer and six acquisitions over the past two years.
• Ripple’s payment volume surpassed $95 billion while its RLUSD stablecoin hit a $1 billion market cap.
• CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the new funding validates Ripple’s crypto-based business expansion.
  

Ripple is closing out 2025 with one of its strongest milestones yet. 

The company announced a $500 million strategic investment that lifts its valuation to $40 billion. The deal, backed by Fortress Investment Group, Citadel Securities, Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, Brevan Howard, and Marshall Wace, marks another record moment for the crypto payments firm. 

CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the new funding reflects investor confidence in Ripple’s growth and the broader crypto sector. The announcement came just as Ripple capped a year defined by expansion, acquisitions, and rising stablecoin activity.

Fortress and Citadel Lead Ripple’s $500M Crypto Investment

According to Ripple’s official press release, the funding round follows a $1 billion tender offer earlier this year at the same valuation. The move signals strong appetite among institutional investors to deepen ties with Ripple’s expanding financial ecosystem. 

The company said the investment would enhance its liquidity strategy while aligning with long-term partnerships across payments, custody, and stablecoins.

Ripple has been aggressively growing its business since 2023, completing six acquisitions within two years, including two deals exceeding $1 billion. Among them was the purchase of Rail, a stablecoin infrastructure company that strengthened Ripple Payments as a cross-border transaction network using both XRP and its own Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin.

Ripple’s $95 billion in total payments volume shows rising demand for its infrastructure. By integrating RLUSD and XRP for settlements, the company continues to build what it calls the Internet of Value, a network designed for frictionless money movement.

Garlinghouse noted that this latest funding round is proof of confidence from leading institutions and represents a clear signal that traditional finance continues to adopt blockchain-based systems.

Ripple Expands RLUSD and Prime Businesses Amid Record Growth

Ripple’s expansion has stretched beyond payments. The company’s RLUSD stablecoin recently reached a $1 billion market cap, driven by institutional use in treasury operations and cross-border payments. The adoption of RLUSD accelerated following Ripple’s acquisition of GTreasury, a firm that manages trillions in global corporate liquidity.

The company has also scaled Ripple Prime, its brokerage and collateral management platform built from the acquisition of Hidden Road. 

Ripple Prime’s transaction volume has tripled, with over 60 million daily transactions now processed. Institutions are increasingly using RLUSD as collateral within this growing ecosystem.

Ripple also emphasized its expanding global regulatory footprint, reporting 75 licenses that allow it to handle customer transactions directly. That reach continues to position Ripple as a key bridge between traditional financial systems and the digital asset economy.

The announcement was shared by Brad Garlinghouse on X, where he called the $500 million deal “the cherry on top” of Ripple’s strongest year yet. The post was later confirmed through Ripple’s official communication channels.

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