Big crypto is coming for big banking

I came across very interesting predictions by CB Insights.

Crypto firms are no longer providing alternatives to traditional banking. Instead, they’re building its next phase.

The most aggressively partnering crypto-native companies of 2025 were Ripple, Coinbase, and Circle, all forging more than 50 relationships each. Per our Business Relationship Insights, all three leaders are targeting the traditional banking system:

-> Ripple is building institutional-grade custody infrastructure for real-world asset tokenization and digital treasury management through white-label solutions backed by established financial institutions like BBVA and Absa Group.

-> Coinbase is expanding from retail brokerage into institutional prime brokerage, custody, and payments infrastructure for financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase and Standard Chartered.

-> Circle is embedding USDC directly into core banking systems and payment processors such as FIS, Fiserv, and Finastra to make stablecoin adoption seamless for traditional financial institutions.

Ripple has most aggressively entered institutional banking, forging partnerships with 9 of the 100 largest traditional banks by assets since 2023, such as DBS Bank and BNY Mellon. Its strategy map from the past year shows 4 acquisitions across treasury management fintech, prime brokerage, and B2B cross-border transactions processing to build out its financial stack:

-> Palisade (acquired November 2025), a wallet-as-a-service custody platform for high-frequency transactions, on/off-ramps, and wallet provisioning for fintechs and crypto-native firms.

-> GTreasury (acquired October 2025 at a $1B valuation), a treasury management software provider used by large corporates to manage cash, FX exposure, and payment operations.

-> Rail io (acquired August 2025 at a $200M valuation), a B2B stablecoin payments startup providing on/off-ramps and cross-border transaction infrastructure for businesses.

-> Ripple Prime (acquired April 2025 at a $1.25B valuation, formerly known as Hidden Road), a multi-asset institutional prime brokerage clearing approximately $3T annually for hedge funds and financial institutions.

Ripple and Circle both received conditional approval for US national trust bank charters in December, alongside BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos. The next stage: crypto-native firms are positioning to move beyond partnerships and compete for the full-stack banking relationship.

Insights by CB Insights

#fintech #crypto #banking