The post Ripple News: Citadel and Top Investors Take Protected Positions in $500M Deal appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News
Ripple’s recent $500 million share sale has quickly become one of the most talked-about moves in the crypto industry. The deal valued Ripple at around $40 billion and attracted some of the biggest names in traditional finance, including Citadel Securities, Fortress Investment Group, Brevan Howard, Galaxy Digital, Marshall Wace, and Pantera Capital. But according to Bloomberg, these investors didn’t come in casually, they negotiated terms that made the investment almost risk-free.
Investors received put options, which allow them to sell shares back to Ripple after three or four years at a guaranteed 10% annual return. Ripple retained the right to repurchase these shares, but only if it offered a 25% annual return to investors. The deal also included liquidation preferences, giving new investors priority if Ripple is sold or faces bankruptcy. These protections reduced risk while allowing Wall Street firms to gain early exposure to Ripple.
Ripple’s value still depends heavily on its XRP holdings, which total around $124 billion. Much of this XRP is locked or released gradually. By providing strong protections, Ripple attracted top institutional investors who normally approach crypto deals cautiously. Analysts say the company sought to gain credibility before a possible public listing and build stronger ties with institutional money.
Bloomberg’s reporting also showed XRP’s expanding utility. XRP now accounts for roughly 8% of activity across crypto payment gateways, showing that it is becoming more widely used in settlement and liquidity operations.
Ripple continues positioning XRP as an important asset for global payments, serving banks, payment providers, and even pilot programs like Mastercard’s settlement testing on the XRP Ledger.



BitGo’s move creates further competition in a burgeoning European crypto market that is expected to generate $26 billion revenue this year, according to one estimate. BitGo, a digital asset infrastructure company with more than $100 billion in assets under custody, has received an extension of its license from Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), enabling it to offer crypto services to European investors. The company said its local subsidiary, BitGo Europe, can now provide custody, staking, transfer, and trading services. Institutional clients will also have access to an over-the-counter (OTC) trading desk and multiple liquidity venues.The extension builds on BitGo’s previous Markets-in-Crypto-Assets (MiCA) license, also issued by BaFIN, and adds trading to the existing custody, transfer and staking services. BitGo acquired its initial MiCA license in May 2025, which allowed it to offer certain services to traditional institutions and crypto native companies in the European Union.Read more