Cardano founder: How Ripple could break the crypto monopoly
It could be the biggest acquisition in crypto history.
It could very well become the biggest acquisition in crypto history. According to media reports, Ripple Labs is in advanced talks to acquire stablecoin giant Circle. The price tag? An astronomical $9 to $11 billion.
But Ripple isn't the only player eyeing the issuer of the popular USDC stablecoin. Coinbase has also set its sights on Circle, which, according to crypto analyst Paul Hogan, has sparked a straight-up bidding war between two heavyweights in the U.S. crypto space.
This week the discussion took a new turn as Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson entered the debate with pointed criticism. During a YouTube livestream, he stated plainly: “I think this would be good for the crypto sector. A Coinbase-A16Z-Circle mafia has emerged, building an ecosystem that serves only itself.”
Rather than worrying about Ripple's growing market power, Hoskinson turns his sights on what he calls the “crypto mafia.” “If you fall outside it, you're completely blacklisted. It's hard to get listed, hard to get liquidity, and almost impossible to launch your own stablecoin,” he said, noting he has spoken favorably about Ripple and XRP in recent months.
According to him, a Circle acquisition by Ripple could break Coinbase's monopoly and bring more decentralization and diversity. He also called Ripple “a better custodian of assets” than its rivals.
Hoskinson goes a step further: he announced that he plans to integrate Ripple's new stablecoin RLUSD into the Cardano ecosystem at no cost. “We believe XRP plays a key role in DeFi, and a strong stablecoin is essential there. We will integrate RLUSD at no cost because we value the XRP community.”
Right now, USDC, Circle's dollar stablecoin, has a market cap of $61.5 billion. By comparison, Ripple's RLUSD, launched in December, is still far from that level. But with this multi-billion-dollar deal on the table, that could change quickly.
