Ripple Retracts Acquisition Plans for Fortress Trust

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Following the letter of intent to acquire Fortress Trust, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced the company has decided “not to move forward with an outright acquisition.” Garlinghouse didn’t cite specific reasons for dropping the deal but said Ripple planned to remain an investor in Fortress.

Garlinghouse Announces Ripple’s Withdrawal From Fortress Trust Deal

On Thursday, Ripple’s CEO confirmed the company has shelved its plans to purchase crypto custodian firm Fortress Trust. The Nevada-licensed financial services provider, founded by Scott Purcell, former CEO of the now-defunct crypto custodian Prime Trust, caught Ripple’s interest in early September 2023. At the time, Garlinghouse expressed Ripple was “excited to bring on this team and its technology to accelerate our business.”

Garlinghouse has since addressed the public on social media platform X, explaining the deal isn’t proceeding. “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,” Garlinghouse posted.

The Ripple boss added:

The Fortress team is incredibly talented, and has built products solving real customer problems. While this outcome is different from what was originally planned, we’ll continue to support them and hope to work together in the future.

Interestingly, in the same week as the acquisition news surfaced, Fortress divulged it was “impacted by a third-party vendor.” Subsequent reports shed light on Ripple’s alleged intervention to reconcile Fortress’s customers. Reportedly, Fortress lost roughly $15 million during the breach.

With the deal now off the table, Fortress re-posted Garlinghouse’s remarks on their official X account page, sharing his social media posts concerning the deal. Fortress has raised funds from Mighty Capital, Salt, Ayon Capital, Nevcaut Ventures, Eagle River, and Ripple.

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