Brad Garlinghouse said Ripple is in a “strong financial position” and that Ripple's IPO is a “back-burner topic.” Garlinghouse said Gary Gensler's role as SEC chairman “is life-threatening.” CEO believes market headwinds are starting to subside, bringing more capital to the industry
Ripple's CEO has said that an IPO is not a priority for the company, due in part to a challenge from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Speaking at the Ripple Swell Conference, Brad Garlinghouse talked about the future of XRP, the SEC, cryptocurrency regulation, Ripple's new RLUSD stablecoin, and the XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) filing.
Regarding the IPO, Garlinghouse said, “IPOs are not a high priority for us, and part of the reason is that the SEC is not our friend.”
He added that companies issue IPOs because they want to raise money. Garlinghouse said Ripple is in a “strong financial position” having invested in various crypto projects.
“There are some dynamics at Ripple,” Garlinghouse said. “One is you have a hostile SEC and a hostile U.S. environment and you have a company that doesn't need to raise capital. So it's just on the back burner.”
Notably, he did not rule out a future IPO.
headwinds are weakening
Garlinghouse cited the SEC, saying the agency is “acting outside the law” and calling it a “rogue agency” when it comes to XRP. The CEO spoke about how the SEC maintains that XRP is still a security despite a ruling that deemed it not. In his words, what the agency is doing is “not ethical behavior.”
Despite the hurdles Ripple faces with the SEC, Garlinghouse says Gary Gensler's tenure as SEC chairman is “limited” and will eventually bring regulatory clarity to the industry. said.
Garlinghouse also mentioned the RLUSD stablecoin, noting that the company has been using stablecoins like USDC and Tether in its payment flows for years. He emphasized that the company's stablecoin aims to bring more liquidity to the XRP ledger and replace the use of USDC and Tether with RLUSD.
Looking ahead to 2025, Garlinghouse believes that the headwinds impacting the market — FTX, the banking crisis, even Sen. Elizabeth Warren's comments that cryptocurrencies are bad — will begin to ease. , believes more capital will flow into the industry.
