Ripple Acquires Crypto Trading Firm to Expand Into Iceland

Ripple continues its run of acquisitions, announcing an expansion into Iceland with its acqui-hire of crypto trading firm Algrim in a blog post on Sept. 30.

Ripple strengthens European presence

The acquisition adds six engineers to Ripple’s ranks. This new team will play an integral role in its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) program.

Per the announcement, Iceland will now serve as one of the company’s engineering hubs, joining London as another European base. Amir Sarhangi, Ripple’s vice president of products, said:

“This team hits the ground running as opposed to building out a team that has to gain this knowledge.”

Algrim and Ripple — a natural fit

Algrim has integrated more than 30 markets into its developing crypto trading platform over the past two years. It’s engineers bring more than a decade’s worth of experience to the Ripple team, according to the announcement.

Algrim CEO, Dadi Armannsson, described the decision to join Ripple as a natural fit, explaining:

“Both companies share a vision to enable widespread adoption of digital assets and blockchain technology, which aligns directly with what we’ve been working towards for the past several years.”

Ripple last week acquired payments platform, Logos Network, through its Xpring initiative, and also announced a partnership with MoneyGram earlier this year.