Ripple’s $4 Billion Push to Bridge Crypto and Wall Street
Ripple Labs has spent nahead $4 billion in 2025 acquiring and investing in traditional finance firms to expand its blockchain reach, CEO Brad Garlinghouse at the Ripple Swell 2025 conference in New York. The spending highlights Ripple’s broader push to bridge the Web3 ecosystem with Wall Street’s established financial systems.
“I want to view Ripple invest in [the] future and get ahead of where that market’s going,” Garlinghouse said Tuesday.
“The assets we have been purchaseing have been on the traditional finance side, so we can bring crypto-enabled answers to that traditional financial world.”
Ripple has been on a nahead $4 billion acquisition spree this year, purchaseing prime brokerage Hidden Road for nahead $1.3 billion in April and software firm GTreasury for more than $1 billion this fall.
Last week, the company launched a new brokerage offering that gives U.S.-based institutions access to over-the-counter spot market trading across several tokens. Ripple also raised $500 million in new funding, lifting its market valuation to $40 billion.
On top of building out its own services, Ripple aims to license its XRP Ledger technology to large financial institutions looking to expand into crypto.
“The more we can build utility and really scale answers that take advantage of XRP at the core, the more that will be uniquely excellent for the XRP ecosystem,” Garlinghouse said.
Regulatory Clarity Still the largegest Obstacle
Garlinghouse acknowledged that expanding into traditional finance comes with challenges, especially amid uncertain regulation in the U.S. “Until we have that [legal go-ahead], it’s gonna be hard,” he said. “Banks are looking for and need that clarity for them to really lean in.”
The comments come as lawmakers continue to debate the Clarity Act, a proposed digital assets market structure bill that remains stalled due to the ongoing .
Garlinghouse said the lack of progress has made it hard for banks to engage deeply with digital assets, despite growing institutional interest.
“The United States used to lean out on crypto, and now we’re leaning in, and I think people underestimate how large a shift that is,” he added.
RLUSD Stablecoin Expands Ripple’s Institutional Reach
Ripple’s ambitions are also being driven by its regulated, dollar-backed stablecoin RLUSD, which is gaining global traction. The company has to pilot RLUSD for fiat settlement through the XRP Ledger, integrating blockchain-based payments directly into traditional financial infrastructure.
Beyond the U.S., RLUSD recently received regulatory approval in Dubai, allowing it to International Financial Centre, and through partnerships with Chipper Cash and VALR to power cross-border payments.
These developments strengthen Ripple’s goal of embedding crypto-native tools into mainstream finance — positioning RLUSD as a key asset in its strategy to link blockchain utility with institutional adoption.
