Battle of the crypto giants: Ripple wants to break Coinbase stability!

Battle of the crypto giants: Ripple wants to break Coinbase stability!

The crypto market could change drastically in the near future as Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, is critical of the current developments surrounding Coinbase and Circle. Hoskinson emphasizes that Ripple Labs may be planning an acquisition of Circle, the issuer of the stablecoin USDC. This acquisition could come with a price tag of $9 billion to $11 billion. In this context, a bidding war arises between Ripple and Coinbase, as Coinbase also shows strong interest in Circle. Hoskinson describes the market power of Coinbase and its partners as a “crypto mafia” that has established a self-serving ecosystem that makes it difficult for new players to gain a foothold in the market.

His main argument is that a takeover of Circle by Ripple would break up Coinbase's existing monopoly and thus ensure more diversity in the crypto market. The current dollar stablecoin USDC has a market capitalization of $61.5 billion, while Ripple’s USD (RLUSD) is valued significantly lower. Hoskinson sees Ripple as a better custodian for stablecoins and talks about how a possible integration of the Ripple stablecoin with Cardano would be beneficial.

Market power and bidding wars

In a potential bidding war for Circle, Hoskinson highlights the possibility that an acquisition by Ripple could help improve the overall crypto market. He criticizes the Coinbase-a16z-Circle group’s “self-service system,” which excludes external actors and makes it difficult for them to access liquidity and stablecoins. According to reports from Fortune, both Ripple and Coinbase are willing to invest billions to acquire Circle, with Ripple potentially having an advantage in this dispute.

Rumors suggest that Ripple has made an offer of $11 billion, while other sources indicate that an earlier offer of between $4 million and $5 million was rejected. At the same time, Hoskinson mentions that the Cardano team is in talks with Ripple about integrating the stablecoin RLUSD and is ready to carry out this integration at no cost.

Collaboration between Cardano and Ripple

The talks between Cardano and Ripple, which have been going on for some time, could now take more concrete form. Hoskinson and Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse have already made positive statements about a possible collaboration. In April, Ripple released a video that featured Cardano's logo, further fueling speculation about a partnership. Despite the positive signs, there has so far been no official confirmation of such cooperation.

Overall, it remains to be seen how the developments surrounding the takeover of Circle by Ripple or Coinbase will develop and what impact this will have on the structures in the crypto market. However, Hoskinson's statements make it clear that the battle for supremacy in the stablecoin and DeFi sectors is far from over.

For more information on this topic and current developments in the crypto market, visit the articles from BTC ECHO and CryptoPotato.