Ripple CEO Explains $3B Acquisition Strategy to Bridge TradFi and DeFi

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has explained why the company has spent nearly $3 billion on acquisitions since 2023.

According to him, Ripple wants to connect traditional finance with decentralized finance, using these deals to build better links between the financial system and the crypto industry.

• Ripple has completed six acquisitions since 2023 with disclosed values totaling about $2.7 billion.
• Major deals include Metaco for $250 million, Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, and GTreasury for $1 billion.
• Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently confirmed that the company went on this acquisition spree to connect TradFi with DeFi.
• Garlinghouse said GTreasury, now called Ripple Treasury, handled about $13 trillion in payments last year, yet none of those transactions used crypto or stablecoins.
• He added that more than 1,000 corporate customers use GTreasury’s technology, and many CFOs and CEOs now want to use crypto tools.
• Ripple plans to slow acquisitions in the near term, focus on integration in the first half of the year, and build on two major deals that have already performed ahead of forecast.

For context, since 2023, Ripple has completed six acquisitions with disclosed values totaling about $2.7 billion. When the company adds undisclosed deals and strategic partnerships, estimates put the figure above $4 billion.

Specifically, Ripple bought Metaco, a crypto custody firm, in May 2023 for $250 million. A year later, in June 2024, the company acquired Standard Custody, a regulated trust company. However, it chose not to reveal the price.

Meanwhile, in April 2025, Ripple announced its $1.25 billion purchase of Hidden Road, a prime brokerage firm. Then four months later, the company acquired Rail, a stablecoin payments platform, for $200 million.

Ripple followed this deal with the acquisition of GTreasury, a treasury management provider, last October for $1 billion. Shortly after, in November 2025, Ripple acquired Palisade, a wallet technology firm, but failed to disclose the purchase price.

Garlinghouse recently discussed these purchases during an interview on FOX Business with Maria Bartiromo. Notably, Bartiromo pointed out that Ripple had spent about $3 billion on acquisitions since 2023, moving into custody, prime brokerage, treasury management, and stablecoin payments.

She asked the Ripple CEO how his firm plans to keep scaling and nudged him to discuss where the company plans to go next with all these businesses now under its control.

In response, Garlinghouse confirmed that Ripple has focused on building bridges between traditional finance and decentralized finance, or crypto. He explained that these bridges represent the primary intent of the company’s acquisition spree. Essentially, Ripple seeks to connect TradFi with DeFi.

Garlinghouse shared an example with the GTreasury acquisition. He said Ripple acquired GTreasury, a treasury management services business that now operates as Ripple Treasury. According to him, GTreasury handled about $13 trillion in payments last year. However, none of those payments used crypto or stablecoins.

He stressed that GTreasury had zero crypto-enabled payments and zero stablecoin-enabled payments, even though more than a thousand corporate customers rely on its technology.He said corporate treasurers, CFOs, and even CEOs now push for ways to use new technology to improve their systems.

Garlinghouse explained that Ripple now has a strong set of solutions that can introduce crypto to those customers. At this point, no overlap exists between Ripple’s crypto products and what GTreasury previously offered. He said Ripple now works to bring those two areas together.

Bartiromo then asked whether Ripple plans to make more acquisitions to keep scaling. Garlinghouse answered that Ripple bought two large companies last year, so the company will focus on integration during the first half of this year instead of rushing into more deals.

He shared that he had visited Chicago the day before, where GTreasury has its headquarters. The Ripple CEO confirmed that he feels excited about the direction his company sees.

He also stated that both of the recent acquisitions have performed far better than the company expected when it completed the deals. For now, Garlinghouse said Ripple will slow down for a moment, focus on integrating its recent purchases, and then speed up again later.