Ripple acquires Fortress Trust, which will use Ripple payments tech for FortressPay

Crypto payments firm Ripple continues its acquisitive streak with a deal to purchase Fortress Trust, a blockchain infrastructure firm.

The news comes after a busy summer of deal-making for Ripple, which splashed $250 million to snap up Swiss custody startup Metaco in May and also acquired a stake in Bitstamp, the crypto exchange.

The deal, announced this morning, expands Ripple’s collection of regulatory licenses. Through technology and licensing, Fortress Trust — a subsidiary of Fortress Blockchain Technologies that holds a Nevada Trust License — offers infrastructure services to enterprise crypto clients.

“As an early investor in Fortress Blockchain Technologies, we’ve had a chance to get to know the team, its vision and technology. Since their launch in 2021, they’ve built an impressive business with recurring revenue and a strong roster of both crypto-native and new-to-crypto customers,” said Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, in a statement.

From seed investor to acquirer

Ripple became a minority investor in Fortress’s parent company in 2022 as part of its $22.5 million seed round, which Ayon Capital led.

After today’s deal, terms of which were not disclosed, Ripple plans to continue to invest in Fortress and its FortressPay services — which will now make use of Ripple’s payments technology.

The deal remains subject to due diligence and regulatory approvals, per today’s announcement.