Ripple has abandoned its plan to acquire Fortress Trust, a crypto-focused trust firm, according to Brad Garlinghouse, the fintech company’s chief executive.
A few weeks ago, we signed a letter of intent to acquire Fortress Trust – we’ve since made the decision not to move forward with an outright acquisition, though Ripple will remain an investor in @Fortress_io.
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) September 28, 2023
“A few weeks ago we signed a letter of intent to acquire Fortress Trust — since then we have decided not to take any steps toward an outright purchase,” Garlinghouse said.
According to him, Ripple will remain an investor and will continue to support the firm.
Fortress chief executive Scott Purcell, in comments to Decrypt, noted that the California-based firm “is focused only on pure B2B and institutional global business.”
“We were a vehicle for them to diversify into B2B2C,” he added.
Purcell noted that Fortress was aware of Ripple’s change of decision. According to him, the firms maintain “strong relationships with joint plans for the future” that do not envisage a merger.
Earlier in September, Ripple announced a potential deal.
Earlier the fintech company acquired the Switzerland-based crypto custodian Metaco.