Ripple Purchases Bitstamp Shares as Growth Efforts Intensify

Ripple continues to intensify efforts toward growth and expansion, with recent reports suggesting the purchase of Bitstamp shares initially held by Pantera.

Ripple has purchased the Bitstamp shares previously owned by Pantera Capital, an American investment firm specializing in digital assets and digital asset-focused companies. This strategic move reflects Ripple’s strong drive for expansion, evident through its ongoing growth-oriented endeavors.

Investment management firm Galaxy Digital Holdings recently disclosed the development in its latest quarterly report. Per the report, Galaxy Digital advised Pantera to sell off its Bitstamp shares to Ripple in the first quarter of this year. President and CIO of Galaxy Digital, Christopher Ferraro, also highlighted the move in a shareholder update conference call this month.

Notably, per a Bloomberg report in 2014, Pantera Capital made a substantial investment of up to $10 million in Bitstamp in 2013, just before the UK-headquartered exchange gained significant recognition. However, Pantera has sold its shares to Ripple after a decade. The exact reason for the sale remains uncertain, as pointed out by WrathofKahneman, a notable influencer within the XRP community.

3. The sale is not described as an acquisition, so why did Ripple do it? Wouldn't expect it's a pure financial play. For LH? ODL? What are the forward looking intentions here? Also, Bitstamp HQ is in London.

— WrathofKahneman (@WKahneman) May 23, 2023

Highlighting the purchase, WrathofKahneman brought attention to Galaxy Digital’s perspective, stating that the sale is not viewed as an acquisition. This has raised speculation about whether Ripple strategically moved to strengthen its Liquidity Hub (LH) solution or serve On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) objectives.

Significantly, it should be noted that Bitstamp continues to be one of Ripple’s longstanding partners for On-Demand Liquidity (ODL). Additionally, as highlighted by The Crypto Basic in previous reports, Bitstamp recently expanded its services on the XRP Ledger by integrating EUR-backed IOUs into the network in January.

The Bitstamp equity purchase signifies another strategic move by Ripple to strengthen its offerings, although specific details on the purchase target are currently limited. Recall that Ripple recently acquired digital asset custody firm Metaco to expand into the custody and tokenization industry.

In previous statements, Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, revealed that the company holds up to $1 billion in reserves that can be utilized for these expansion initiatives. The firm has continued to aim for growth despite its long-standing legal tussle with the US SEC.