Ripple And Long-Term Partner Tranglo Break Up, Why?

Ripple Labs has reportedly divested its stake in Tranglo, a Malaysia-based payment firm that leverages XRP for international transactions. This development was first brought to light by Crypto Eri, a prominent member of the XRP community, in a post on X from Monday, citing updates from Crunchbase.

Why Are Ripple And Tranglo Parting Ways?

Crunchbase’s latest records indicate that Ripple has exited investments in both the Bitstamp exchange and Tranglo. While the firm’s exit from Bitstamp appears aligned with Bitstamp’s acquisition by Robinhood, the divestment from Tranglo comes unexpectedly.

Tranglo has been an integral part of Ripple’s strategy to enhance global financial transactions using XRP. By leveraging the On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service, Tranglo facilitated quicker and cheaper international transactions. Ripple’s investment, amounting to a substantial 40% ownership, underscored a deep commitment to integrating XRP into global payment corridors.

Crypto Eri stated, “Crunchbase updated Ripple investment EXITS. Bitstamp exit was probably due to the Robinhood acquisition, but surprised to see Tranglo, where Ripple held a 40% stake in the cross-border payment company that utilized XRP (ODL). Additional confirmation recommended.”

This unexpected move has raised questions within the XRP community. @ADingoAteMyXRP pointed out a potential discrepancy, “Exits on Crunchbase are when a company you invested in goes public. But this page isn’t correct — Tranglo is a private company.” Meanwhile, Wrathof Kahneman, another popular researcher within the XRP community, noted the lack of corroborating sources for this information, adding to the confusion. Kahneman remarked, “Strange. Crunchbase is the only place I can find that mentions this. I wonder if it’s just a mistake?”

Delving deeper into the matter, Crypto Eri further explained, “Seamless Group Inc., owns Tranglo. They have been trying to go public through a SPAC (Infint Corp) with many starts and stops since 2022. Infint updated their S-4 in April 2024 (Tranglo is mentioned 712 times, and Ripple mentioned 256 times). I can’t find where this transaction has been finalized. I did find, on a different but related fact is Cowen, strategic partner to Polysign/Standard sold its 10% of shares in Infint Corp. The whole matter takes a bit more research.”

Further research by Kahneman revealed that TNG Fintech, now known as Seamless Group, had entered into a partnership with Ripple in 2021 and later announced a merger with InFinT Acquisition Corporation to become publicly traded. Although initial filings seemed to have timed out, recent extensions indicate the deal might still be in process. This could explain the firm’s decision to divest its stake.

“So did Ripple exit Tranglo investment? Looks like it. Here is the paperwork about the employee working at Tranglo that returned to Ripple,” Kahneman speculated. Regarding the implications for XRP, he added, “What does this mean for […] XRP? Not much. Tranglo is still a featured Ripple Payments user. Hopefully, the cash injection enables the business to grow and by extension, XRP usage.”

The reactions among the XRP community members are mixed. Reflecting one part of the community, @HadleyHopelv426 views this news as “another fail by Brad [Garlinghouse] and the gang.” Others like Kahneman see the potential financial gain for the crypto company that could, in turn, foster further growth and use of XRP.

At press time, XRP traded at $0.54576.

Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com