Ripple’s CEO: an IPO hasn’t been a “high priority” as it’s in a strong financial position

• Brad Garlinghouse said that Ripple is in a “strong financial position” and that a Ripple IPO has been a “back burner topic”
• Garlinghouse said that Gary Gensler’s “days are numbered” as the SEC Chair
• The CEO believes the market headwinds are beginning to ease, bringing more capital into the industry

Ripple’s CEO has said an IPO isn’t a priority for the company, partly because of its challenges with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Speaking at the Ripple Swell Conference, Brad Garlinghouse spoke about XRP’s future, the SEC, crypto regulation, Ripple’s new RLUSD stablecoin, and XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) filings.

On the topic of an IPO, Garlinghouse said “an IPO has not been a high priority for us and part of that is because the SEC is not our friend.”

He added that for a company to issue an IPO, it’s because they want to raise capital. Garlinghouse stated that Ripple is in a “strong financial position” that has seen them investing in different crypto projects.

“We have a couple of dynamics here with Ripple,” Garlinghouse said. “One is we have a hostile SEC, hostile US environment, and we have a company that doesn’t need to go raise capital. So it’s just been a back burner topic.”

Notably, he didn’t knock down the possibility of an IPO in the future.

Headwinds are easing

Touching on the SEC, Garlinghouse said that the agency is “acting outside of the law,” calling them a “rogue agency” when it comes to XRP. The CEO spoke about how despite a ruling that deemed XRP wasn’t a security, the SEC is still saying that it is. In his words, what the agency is doing “is not ethical behavior.”

Despite the hurdles that Ripple faces with the SEC, Garlinghouse mentioned that Gary Gensler’s days “are numbered” as the SEC Chair, and that eventually regulatory clarity will come to the industry.

Garlinghouse also spoke about the RLUSD stablecoin, noting that the company has been using stablecoins, such as USDC and Tether, in their payment flows for years. He highlighted that their stablecoin would bring more liquidity to the XRP ledger, and that they aim to replace using USDC and Tether with RLUSD.

Looking to 2025, Garlinghouse believes that the headwinds that have affected the market – FTX, the banking crisis, and even Senator Elizabeth Warren saying crypto is bad – will start to ease bringing with it more capital into the industry.