Ripple Labs Weighs Buying Crypto Lender Celsius’ Assets: Report

San Francisco-based crypto company Ripple Labs has expressed interest in purchasing insolvent crypto lender Celsius Network’s assets, a Ripple spokesperson told Reuters Wednesday.

The spokesperson also noted Ripple "is actively looking for M&A opportunities to strategically scale the company” as it continues “to grow exponentially" through the market downturn. The spokesperson declined to comment on whether Ripple is looking to purchase Celsius Network outright, however.

Ripple Labs, which owns the Ripple payments network and maintains the XRP ledger, is the latest company to weigh an acquisition of what was once one of the crypto industry’s largest lenders with $25 billion in assets. Lending rival Nexo made a similar overture in June, and crypto exchange FTX was also in the running for a time.

Celsius filed for bankruptcy protection in July and froze customer withdrawals in June.

Ripple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ripple is being sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on allegations that Ripple's sale of XRP violated federal securities law.