Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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Blockchain company Ripple is no longer interested in acquiring Fortress Trust.
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Ripple had previously agreed to acquire the Nevada-based chartered trust company for a reported fee below $250 million.
Ripple Cancels Plan To Purchase Fortress Trust
Blockchain company Ripple will no longer acquire Fortress Trust. This is according to Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse, who made this announcement on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
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_io.
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) September 28, 2023
Garlinghouse stated that,
"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."
Ripple had previously agreed to acquire the Nevada-based chartered trust company for an undisclosed amount. However, at the time, reports suggested that the deal would be closed for a fee below the $250 million Ripple paid for custody firm Metaco earlier this year.
Fortress Trust Reports Theft Of Customer Cryptos
Ripple canceling plans to acquire Fortress Trust comes barely 48 hours after the firm disclosed a theft of customers’ cryptocurrency. The firm said around $15 million worth of customer’s cryptocurrencies were stolen and blamed an unnamed third-party vendor that had fallen victim to a phishing attack.
The vendor was later identified as Retool, a San Francisco-based company with Fortune 500 customers. Retool built a portal for various Fortress clients to access their crypto assets.
However, Ripple pointed out that it had plans to cancel the deal prior to the theft, but the incident accelerated its decision.
