Ripple acquires Fortress Trust in cash-and-equity deal

Ripple has acquired Fortress Trust, according to a Friday announcement from the distributed ledger tech firm. 

In a statement, CEO Brad Garlinghouse revealed that Ripple was an early investor in Fortress Trust, which launched in 2021. 

“We’ve had a chance to get to know the team, its vision and technology,” Garlinghouse said. “They’ve built an impressive business with recurring revenue and a strong roster of both crypto-native and new-to-crypto customers.”

Ripple wouldn’t disclose how much it paid for Fortress Trust but told Blockworks that the deal comprised “a mix of cash and equity.”

The news comes months after Ripple bought crypto custodian Metaco for $250 million in May. At the time, Ripple cited the move as a way to advance its growing product line. 

The latest acquisition adds to Ripple’s growing number of regulatory licenses, as Fortress Trust possesses a Nevada Trust license.

According to the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, a state licensed trust company in Nevada “can act as a custodian of assets and act as an escrow agent.” Additionally, it can assist in transactions such as “cryptocurrency storage and services related to digital security offerings.”

“Licenses are a powerful enabler to build and deliver best-in-class customer experiences for enterprises using Ripple’s crypto infrastructure across our payments and liquidity solutions,” Ripple President Monica Long said. 

She added: “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.”

Blockworks previously reported in June that Swan Bitcoin transferred all its assets to two of its qualified custodians, one of which was Fortress Trust.

---

Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

• The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.
• 0xResearch: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst.