Ripple Goes For M&A in Asia Amid Legal Battle In US

US-based major blockchain company Ripple that is still fighting a major legal battle with American regulators said it has agreed to acquire 40% in Tranglo, an Asian cross-border payments specialist.

The transaction is expected to be closed this year, while TNG Fintech Group will remain the majority shareholder in Tranglo, Ripple said without providing any other details about the deal.

With this acquisition, the blockchain company aims “to meet growing customer demand in the region and expand the reach of RippleNet’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service.” ODL uses the XRP token to send money. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Ripple’s two co-founders and executives of personally profiting from the sales of XRP, which it claims is an “unregistered security,” to the tune of around USD 600m.

As the legal battle is still ongoing in the US, the company aims to broaden its ODL footprint in Southeast Asia, “the fastest-growing region for RippleNet adoption.” Last week, Ripple announced Brooks Entwistle as Managing Director of Southeast Asia.

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, previously said that if the SEC were to say that XRP is a security, “a lot of what Ripple does in the Unites States, we could continue, no problem.” According to him, “more than 90% of RippleNet customers are outside the US,” so Ripple would “continue to build the business and grow.”

At the time of writing (04:09 UTC), XRP trades at USD 0.56 and is unchanged in a day. It’s up by almost 3% in a week and 27% in a month.
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– Unconfirmed Report From Court Hearing May Have Sparked XRP Rally
– SEC Lists 3 Reasons for Seeking Ripple Execs’ Financial Info on XRP Deals
– SEC Hits out at Ripple’s ‘Lack of Due Process’ in Letter to Judge
– Fact-checking Ripple’s Claim that ‘Many G20 Gov’ts’ Call XRP a ‘Currency’
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(Updated at 04:32 UTC with a quote from Ripple CEO.)