Cryptocurrency company Ripple announced on Thursday that it will acquire stablecoin payment platform Rail for $200 million. A few weeks ago, US President Donald Trump signed a bill that sparked market expectations that cryptocurrencies were about to enter mainstream view.
 
Cryptocurrency company Ripple has issued XRP tokens and its own stablecoin RLUSD, investing heavily in stablecoin infrastructure in recent months. The company stated that the acquisition is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year (pending regulatory approval), at which time Ripple and Rail will "work together to create the most comprehensive stablecoin payment solution in the market". The announcement mentioned that this transaction will also add virtual accounts and automated backend processes to Ripple's existing payment capabilities.
 
Ripple President Monica Long said in an interview, "With the regulatory framework becoming increasingly clear and the industry constantly maturing, the opportunities for stablecoin payments have fully matured. The acquisition of Rail will effectively consolidate our market leading position in the stablecoin payment field. ”
 
Toronto based Rail is supported by investments from Galaxy Ventures and Accomplice, and its core business is to use stablecoins for cross-border payments. The company claims that compared to the longer settlement cycle of fiat payments, its transaction costs are lower and clearing can be completed in just a few hours. According to the official website of Rail, the company undertakes 10% of the global stablecoin payment transaction volume.
 
In July of this year, Trump signed a bill aimed at establishing a federal regulatory system for stablecoins. Analysts believe that this measure may make digital assets a common way of daily payments and fund transfers. The original intention of stablecoin design is to maintain value stability, usually pegged 1:1 to the US dollar. Its application has experienced explosive growth, especially favored by cryptocurrency traders when transferring funds between different tokens.
 
In April of this year, Ripple announced its acquisition of multi asset broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, one of the company's largest acquisitions to date, aimed at enhancing the practical value of RLUSD. Ripple launched its stablecoin RLUSD pegged to the US dollar last year, attempting to break the market dominance dominated by Tether and Circle's USDC.
 
In July of this year, Ripple followed in the footsteps of stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL. US) to apply for a US banking license, promoting the inclusion of digital asset business into the federal regulatory framework. Ripple's stablecoin RLUSD, which is pegged to the US dollar, will also be included in the regulatory scope of OCC. The token is currently regulated at the state level by the New York State Department of Financial Services.