Ripple is reportedly said to have offered $4 billion to $5 billion to buy the stablecoin issuer Circle, Bloomberg reported on Apr. 30. Circle is said to have rejected Ripple's bid as "too low."
VanEck's head of digital assets research, Matthew Sigel, posted about the alleged takeover on X, citing the Bloomberg story.
Sources told the publication that though Ripple is still interested in acquiring the stablecoin issuer, it hasn't decided whether to make another offer.
A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency that is created to maintain a stable value, unlike traditionally volatile cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. It is usually pegged to a traditional currency like the US dollar or a commodity like gold. Circle's USDC stablecoin is pegged 1:1 to the US dollar.
The firm is focused on following through on an initial public offering (IPO) that it applied for on Apr. 1, the report mentioned.
Circle filed the S-1 form with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list under the ticker CRCL on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
On Apr. 29, it also secured the regulatory win from Abu Dhabi Global Market's Financial Services Regulatory Authority to act as a money services provider in the region.
For Ripple, an IPO "isn’t a huge priority.” However, the payments firm agreed to acquire the prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion on Apr. 8 in one of the biggest crypto deals ever.
Ripple is also nearing the settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of its years-long lawsuit over alleged securities violations.
As per Kraken's price feed, XRP was trading at $2.19 at press time, down 5% a day.