Key Takeaways
- Ripple raised $500 million at a $40 billion valuation, led by Citadel Securities and Fortress.
- On the same day, the company unveiled a new partnership with Mastercard, WebBank, and Gemini.
- The collaboration will pilot stablecoin settlements on the XRP Ledger for fiat credit transactions.
Ripple is back in the spotlight, and this time, it’s not for a courtroom drama.
The blockchain payments company just secured $500 million in new funding , valuing the company at a staggering $40 billion and reaffirming its position as one of the crypto industry’s most valuable players.
The news landed the same day Ripple announced a high-profile partnership with Mastercard, WebBank, and Gemini to test RLUSD settlements directly on the XRP Ledger (XRPL).
A $40 Billion Vote of Confidence
The new capital raise, completed on November 5, 2025, saw significant participation from financial heavyweights, including Citadel Securities and Fortress Investment Group, alongside Marshall Wace, Brevan Howard, Pantera Capital, and Galaxy Digital.
The deal follows a $1 billion tender offer earlier this year at the same valuation, underscoring consistent demand from institutional backers.
For Ripple, it’s been a year of vindication.
After weathering a bruising legal battle with the SEC, the firm emerged stronger, with its native token XRP breaking above $3 in August.
And after years of regulatory friction, Ripple is finally re-establishing its footprint in the U.S. market.
CEO Brad Garlinghouse called the latest raise “the cherry on top of a mountain of good news,” noting that Ripple’s growing traction among banks and payment providers represents the clearest sign yet that blockchain payments are entering the financial mainstream.
Ripple x Mastercard: A Stablecoin Experiment with Real Stakes
At Ripple Swell 2025 in New York, the company announced a first-of-its-kind collaboration with Mastercard, WebBank, and Gemini to test RLUSD, Ripple’s regulated U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, as a settlement mechanism for credit card transactions.
In the pilot, WebBank — the issuer of the Gemini Credit Card — will use RLUSD to settle payments on Mastercard’s network via XRPL, reducing the time and cost typically associated with multi-day fiat settlement processes.
It’s a milestone moment. One of the first times a regulated U.S. bank will settle card transactions directly on a public blockchain using a licensed stablecoin.
“Through our partnerships with Ripple, Gemini, and WebBank, we’re using our global payments network to bring regulated, open-loop stablecoin payments into the financial mainstream,” said Sherri Haymond, Mastercard’s Global Head of Digital Commercialization.
RLUSD — launched in December 2024 and approved by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) — has already surpassed $1 billion in circulation, with 80% on Ethereum and 20% on XRPL.
For Ripple, the collaboration isn’t just about testing technology — it’s about building trust.
If successful, the model could reshape how card networks and banks approach blockchain settlements, turning years of hype into tangible utility.
