Ripple to Bolster Regulatory Licenses With Fortress Trust Acquisition

Ripple, a provider of enterprise blockchain and crypto solutions, has announced its agreement to acquire Fortress Trust, a financial institution specializing in licensed Web3 financial, regulatory and technology infrastructure for blockchain innovators.

This move by Ripple aims to strengthen its position in the growing enterprise crypto market and aligns with its business and product roadmap, the company said in a Friday (Sept. 8) press release. The closure of the deal is subject to due diligence and regulatory approvals.

Fortress Trust has built a reputation for providing critical infrastructure to address the needs of the enterprise crypto market, according to the release.

“As an early investor in Fortress Trust, we’ve had a chance to get to know the team, its vision, and technology,” Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, said in the release. “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.”

One of the significant benefits of this acquisition is the expansion of Ripple’s regulatory licenses, according to the release. Fortress Trust holds a Nevada Trust license, which adds to Ripple’s growing portfolio of licenses. Ripple and its subsidiaries already hold a New York BitLicense, more than 30 Money Transmitter Licenses across the U.S., and an in-principle Major Payment Institution License from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Monica Long, president at Ripple, said in the release: “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.”

Scott Purcell, CEO of Fortress Blockchain Technologies, added: “We’re extremely pleased that Fortress Trust will be acquired by Ripple, one of the largest and most innovative companies in the industry — it’s a testament to the team and business that we’ve built in a short period of time. Furthermore, we look forward to continuing to collaborate and deepening our partnership with our Web3 payments solution.”

This acquisition agreement comes about four months after Ripple acquired Swiss digital asset custody provider Metaco for $250 million. The company said at the time that the Metaco deal will help Ripple tap into an institutional crypto custody market that will grow to $10 trillion by 2030.