The XRP army is not buying the latest rumor about enterprise blockchain company Ripple intending to fork out a staggering $20 billion for USDC issuer Circle.
Earlier today, it started rapidly spreading on the X platform. Some influencers and crypto media outlets shared the unsubstantiated rumor, drawing criticism from some members of the XRP community for reporting on this without any credible evidence.
Dom Kwok, cofounder of EasyA, has commented that there is "no way" Ripple is going to offer such an enormous sum of money. Last month, Circle filed for a $5 billion initial public offering (IPO).
Based on the X search history, the rumor appears to have originated on April 30, with a shady-looking account claiming that the offer was increased by $20 billion. The account added that the deal was finalized. The account is tagged "Fox News," even though there has been no reporting on the matter from the news network.
As reported by U.Today, Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Ripple had offered up to $5 billion to acquire Circle, but the offer was rejected.
Circle is the second-largest player on the stablecoin market, with the capitalization of USDC surpassing $61 billion. Circle's main revenue comes from interest earned on the reserves backing the popular stablecoin. Ripple entered the stablecoin market last year with the last of Ripple USD (RLUSD).
In April, Circle also announced the upcoming launch of a cross-border payments network, meaning that it will directly compete with Ripple in its department as well.
The original Bloomberg report stated that Ripple was uncertain about making another offer to Circle, but it did not rule it out. However, there is no credible reporting confirming that the company has upped the offer all the way to $20 billion.
As reported by U.Today, the XRP price also surged on Sunday due to fake news of ProShares securing approval to launch XRP exchange-traded funds on Aprril 30. It remains unclear when these products will actually launch.
Vladislav Sopov
Dan Burgin