Stablecoin Showdown: Why Ripple and Coinbase Want Circle So Badly

Reports in May 2025 revealed that Circle Internet Financial, issuer of the USDC dollar stablecoin, has quietly explored a multi-billion-dollar sale.

Bloomberg and Fortune reported that payments giant Ripple had offered to buy Circle for $4–5 billion in late April 2025, and that cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase subsequently showed interest at a similar $5 billion price tag. Circle promptly denied that any sale is imminent, insisting it is focused on an IPO.

News reports suggest that the price tag has doubled to around $9-11 billion, with Ripple having the upper hand.

Despite the denials, the emerging bidding war highlights USDC’s strategic value. USDC is the world’s second-largest stablecoin by market cap.

Circle’s filings report $43.9 billion of USDC in circulation (Dec 2024) – a 24% share of the stablecoin market – and Circle generated about $1.7 billion in revenue (mostly interest on reserves) in 2024.

By early 2025, USDC’s circulating supply had swelled past $56 billion. In contrast, Ripple’s new stablecoin (RLUSD) was tiny – 32,000 holders and $26 million market cap (Q1 2025) per Messsari data. Owning Circle would instantly give Ripple a share of the booming USDC market.

Rumored Bids and Company Responses

On April 30, 2025, Bloomberg reported that Ripple had bid $4–5 billion to acquire Circle. Those reports say Circle rejected Ripple’s offer as “too low”.

Just weeks later, Fortune reported that Circle held informal talks with both Coinbase and Ripple, and that Circle was seeking at least $5 billion for a sale, roughly the same valuation its IPO would command. In one quote, an unnamed banker told Fortune: “If Coinbase wanted to buy them, Circle would sell in a heartbeat.”

Circle publicly downplayed the takeover chatter. In mid-May, it stated that “Circle is not for sale” and that its “long-term goals remain the same”. PYMNTS reported that Circle emphasized it plans to proceed with its IPO and is not entertaining a deal.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong told Bloomberg that Circle’s IPO filing would not disrupt Coinbase’s existing USDC revenue-sharing; on the subject of an acquisition, he said “nothing to announce today”. Thus far, neither Coinbase nor Ripple has confirmed any offer.

Circle’s IPO Plans and Valuation

Circle filed a Form S-1 for an IPO on April 1, 2025. The company aims to list on the NYSE under ticker “CRCL,” targeting a valuation around $5 billion (consistent with what investment banks JPMorgan and Citi have estimated).

Circle’s prospectus notes this is its second attempt to go public – its 2022 SPAC merger was abandoned amid the FTX collapse. Earlier, in late 2024 Circle delayed a planned IPO (announced it would restart the process in Jan 2024 after suspending a 2022 offering).

Market conditions briefly cooled Circle’s timeline: after tariffs were announced in early April, Circle signaled it might delay its IPO.

But crypto IPO prospects have brightened since, with Coinbase and others eyeing listings and the White House pushing for friendly rules.

In effect, the rumored bids put pressure on Circle’s board to weigh a fast sale against an independent public listing. Investors and analysts note Circle is seeking $5B either way – whether via IPO or a buyout – and has hired banks accordingly.

Coinbase’s Complex Stake in USDC

Coinbase is not a newcomer to the USDC story. It co-founded the Centre Consortium with Circle in 2018 to launch USDC.

In Aug 2023, Coinbase took a minority equity stake in Circle and dissolved the Centre consortium. Today, Coinbase continues to list and trade USDC, and the two firms share in the stablecoin’s reserve interest.

Notably, about 99% of Circle’s 2024 revenue came from interest on USDC reserves, and Coinbase received roughly $910 million of that interest income in 2024.

In other words, Circle “paid” Coinbase nearly a billion dollars to exchange and support USDC last year. This financial link partly explains Coinbase’s interest. Acquiring Circle would internalize that revenue stream and give Coinbase direct control of the world’s #2 stablecoin.

Coinbase also brings the balance sheet to do it: it held about $8 billion at end-2024, and its stock is in the S&P 500 (appealing to Circle shareholders).

Ripple’s Entry into Stablecoins

Ripple has only recently waded into the USD stablecoin space. Late in 2024, it launched RLUSD, a US dollar–pegged token on the XRP Ledger (and Ethereum), fully collateralized by bank deposits and U.S. Treasuries.

But RLUSD remains tiny by comparison: only about $26 million in circulation and 32,000 holders as of Q1 2025. In sum, Ripple’s stablecoin is a drop in the bucket next to USDC’s tens of billions.

Acquiring Circle would instantly vault Ripple into a leading stablecoin position. The reported offer from Ripple was structured partly in cash and partly in XRP tokens.

Observers note this strategy aligns with Ripple’s broader mission: its On-Demand Liquidity product already uses dollar stablecoins to facilitate cross-border payments, and USDC on the XRP Ledger (EURC, plus the new EURCV euro stablecoin project) is part of its roadmap.

A deal would let Ripple leverage USDC’s established network, complementing its payment rails. However, financing a $5B deal in XRP is nontrivial; analysts warn that offloading large XRP positions could depress the token’s price.

Ripple is also busy on other fronts – it spent $1.25B in April 2025 to buy prime broker Hidden Road – so any Circle bid is a strategic, not easy, move.

Stablecoin Market Context and Regulation

USDC’s rise reflects a surging stablecoin market. In early 2025, USDC’s market cap topped $56–60 billion, second only to Tether’s USDT.

Circle reports USDC grew 78% year-over-year in 2024, with $1 trillion transacting in November 2024 alone and $18 trillion in all-time volume.

Stablecoins now account for a growing share of crypto transactions, according to Circle, USDC alone handles roughly 69% of stablecoin trading volume (via fiat on/off ramps and DeFi usage).

Other stablecoins like BUSD (Paxos) and DAI compete, but Circle’s leadership is clear: USDC’s 24% supply share and broad adoption (500+ million wallets with access) underscore its prominence.

Regulators are paying attention. In May 2025, the U.S. Senate advanced the bipartisan GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins) by a key vote.

The bill would require stablecoin issuers to back their tokens 1:1 with safe assets and operate under banking-like oversight.

Under GENIUS, only qualified entities (banks or well-capitalized fintechs) could issue payment stablecoins, with monthly audit disclosures of reserves. Circle has welcomed clearer rules, noting that regulatory certainty “will engender greater confidence in USDC”.

In effect, any major stablecoin issuer – especially a public one like Circle – must meet strict compliance standards. Owning Circle would give Coinbase or Ripple not only market share but also a stablecoin anchor under likely future regulation.

What’s at Stake?

At the bottom, this showdown is about controlling critical crypto plumbing. Stablecoins like USDC tie blockchain networks to the U.S. dollar, making them indispensable for trading, lending, and payments.

For Coinbase, buying Circle would lock in a dominant position in the stablecoin space and protect an existing cash cow. For Ripple, acquiring Circle would bolster its payments infrastructure and mitigate reliance on volatile XRP issuance.

Investors and regulators will watch closely. Circle’s IPO filing shows nearly all its revenue comes from USDC reserves, and the company has grown revenue 16% year-over-year to $1.7B (2024).

Meanwhile, competitors like Tether and emerging euro stablecoins loom. If Circle remains independent, its IPO could unlock fresh capital; if it sells, the winner gains a giant in dollar digital payments. In either scenario, the outcome will shape stablecoin dominance.