Binance’s chief executive has shared his company’s future direction and areas of focus following its settlement with U.S. authorities, including the Department of Justice (DOJ). “We have moved past that as the company move into greater maturity,” he insisted, adding that the crypto firm is focusing on “sustainability.” ‘The Direction of Travel Is Very Clear’ […]
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Ripple has reportedly completed its acquisition of web3-focused company Fortress Trust for an undisclosed sum.
On Sept. 6, the crypto company revealed that it had agreed to purchase the Nevada-based chartered trust company. According to the press statement, the acquisition would further complement Ripple’s business and product roadmap.
The acquisition broadens Ripple’s regulatory licenses, including the addition of a Nevada license to its current holdings, such as the New York BitLicense and money transfer licenses across 30 U.S. states.
The purchase aligns with Ripple’s expansion plans, which have been positively influenced by a partial victory they secured against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Earlier in the year, the crypto payment company completed a $250 million deal, making it the sole shareholder of Swiss-based crypto custody firm Metaco.
This strategic move enables Ripple to tap into Fortress Trust’s technology, licensing, and infrastructure, enhancing its ability to serve the growing crypto market.
Fortress Trust, founded by financial industry veteran Scott Purcell, specializes in providing financial and regulatory infrastructures for blockchain companies. Notably, Ripple was already a minority investor in Fortress Blockchain, the parent company of Fortress Trust, having participated in the company’s seed funding round in August 2022.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse noted that Fortress Trust had built an impressive business with recurring revenue and a strong roster of crypto-native and new-to-crypto customers since its launch in 2021. He added:
“We’re excited to bring on this team and its technology to accelerate our business and continue pressing our advantage in the areas critical to crypto infrastructure.”
The crypto company’s president, Monica Long, stated that the acquisition would help it “to build and deliver best-in-class customer experiences for enterprises using its crypto infrastructure across our payments and liquidity solutions.”
Fortress Blockchain CEO Scott Purcell said the purchase was a testament to the team and business they built within a short period.
The post Ripple’s acquisition of Fortress Trust adds to company’s regulatory licenses appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Yang Huiyan, the chair of the property giant Country Garden, has lost about $29 billion since 2021.
Huiyan lost $490 million on Tuesday as her company missed interest payments, according to Bloomberg.
Country Garden reported that sales plummeted by 30% year-on-year in the first six months of 2023.
Yang Huiyan — once Asia’s wealthiest woman — has lost more of her wealth than any billionaire since June 2021 as China’s top property developer, Country Garden, grapples with a debt crisis.
Yang’s net worth has plummeted by 84%, or $28.6 billion, since its peak in June 2021, Bloomberg reported. The 41-year-old’s net worth is now $5.5 billion, per Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
These losses come as Country Garden missed interest payments on two US-dollar-denominated bonds, according to various media reports, including a Reuters report on Wednesday. The company now has a 30-day grace period to avoid an official default.
The company’s Hong Kong-listed stocks have plunged by 20.4% since Monday. Yang derives much of her wealth from a 52.6% stake in the company, per a Monday report by the ratings agency Moody’s. She saw her wealth tank by about $490 million on Tuesday.
Before taking over as majority shareholder of the company from her father in 2007, Yang graduated from Ohio State University as part of the class of 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and logistics.
But Country Garden’s fortunes have waned since. The company remains China’s biggest property developer in sales, but its market value has more than halved since the start of the year, according to The New York Times.
In July, the company reported sales of 128.76 billion yuan, or about $17.8 billion, in the first six months of the year, marking a 30% decrease compared to the same period last year.
Yang, who became China’s richest woman at 25 after the company’s IPO, lost the spot of Asia’s richest woman in August 2022 to Savitri Jindal. Jindal, India’s richest woman, is the chairperson emeritus of the Indian conglomerate O.P. Jindal Group, per Bloomberg.
On July 30, Yang announced that she was giving away 55% of her shares in Country Garden to a charity founded by her younger sister in a payout valued at $826 million, per Bloomberg.
Country Garden and Yang Huiyan did not respond to requests for comment from Insider.
Read the original article on Business Insider