Hottest fintech news today – FinFan – 21/5/2023 - Ripple acquired the company Metaco

Hottest fintech news today – FinFan – 21/5/2023 - Ripple acquired the company Metaco

*On May 17, Ripple announced the acquisition of Metaco, a Swiss crypto custody company, in a deal of $250 million.

This shows Ripple's plan to launch crypto custody services for large investors in the near future. According to the project announcement, the blockchain platform will provide users with tools for crypto custody, issuance, and processing.

In addition, Ripple will become the sole shareholder of Metaco. However, the company will still operate as an independent brand. Notably, Adrien Treccani – co-founder and CEO of Metaco will continue to lead the business as before.

“Metaco is a leader in digital asset custody with potential customers. The acquisition of Metaco is a great addition to our plans to grow and expand our services globally,” said Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple.

Founded in Switzerland in 2015, Metaco provides services to a wide range of clients including global custodians, major banks, financial institutions and many more. The Harmonize crypto custody product is the company's core platform that helps investors manage transactions, staking assets, and smart contracts throughout the DeFi ecosystem.

Accordingly, Metaco is already present in several markets, including Switzerland, Germany, Turkey, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong and the Philippines. Meanwhile, Ripple has users in more than 55 countries and can provide payment services in 70 markets globally.*

*Sourced by Fintech Magazine

How does FinFan think about this acquisitions of Ripple?

Being a strategic partner of Ripple for more than 3 years, we are aware of the excellent work this firm has done to help customers with cross-border payments (using the C2C model).

FinFan and Ripple have been working together for more than 3 years, and throughout that time, FinFan has worked to support Ripple in solving the aforementioned issue by continuously enhancing the API code that is integrated into Ripple's remittance page to give end users the best possible experience when sending payments and making international cryptocurrency transfers.

Today, Ripple's acquisition of Metaco and some information assisting governments in building their own CBDC testifies to this company's huge ambition to grab the B2B market, a market that is now underserved by the likes of Salesforce and Oracle. The market still has a great deal of room for future spectacular growth.

However, why would Ripple merely acquire Metaco without integrating it into its infrastructure and keeping the old management team? That is because 3 reasons

  • First, although Ripple has a presence in the B2C and C2C markets, it is still a young company with little prior experience in the B2B industry. Because of Metaco's notable market successes (as mentioned above), keeping the current management in place will guarantee Metaco's growth in the foreseeable future.
  • Second, the fact that Ripple is keeping the Metaco name will give the current company's leadership a lot of motivation when what they have worked so hard to build for so long does not suddenly vanish and the leadership still has rights to the business. As a result, they will work even harder to develop the business that is already too familiar to them.
  • Third, Switzerland, the country that gave birth to well-known watch companies like Hublot and Rolex, is particularly interested in the Metaco brand. The reputation of this brand in the market has been demonstrated by Metaco's ability to establish a footing in this market while also expanding to nearby nations. If Ripple and Metaco merge, this business will have to invest a lot of time in building its brand in this competitive space.

In other words, unlike many other M&A deals, the acquisition rather than the merger has demonstrated the prudent vision of the Ripple brand as they can both grow the B2B market they are interested in while keeping their reputation. in addition to Metaco's market share in certain other European markets as well as the Swiss market.