Ripple to Explore IPO after SEC Lawsuit, CEO Discloses

Blockchain payments firm Ripple Labs Inc might be battling a lawsuit with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but it is in no way losing focus on what the future holds.

In an interview with CNBC, Chief Executive Officer Brad Garlinghouse has confirmed that the firm will consider moves to float its Initial Public Offering in the US when it is done with the SEC.

“I think we want to get certainty and clarity in the United States with the U.S. SEC. You know, I’m hopeful that the SEC will not slow that process down any more than they already have,” Garlinghouse told CNBC during the World Economic Forum in Davos. “But you know, we certainly are at a point in the scale, where that is a possibility. And we’ll look at that once we’re past this lawsuit with the SEC.”

Garlinghouse said he hopes the SEC will not impede its speed when it wants to push for the public listing as it has done through the legal battle that has lasted well over 12 months. The plans to go public have long been in the works for Ripple as it looks to thread similar paths as Coinbase Global Inc which made its public debut back in April 2021.

While Garlinghouse is optimistic the ongoing legal brawl will be concluded this year, and hopefully, in the firm’s favour, the entire plan of an IPO is an ambitious one amidst a largely bearish market.

While Ripple Labs operates with the aid of the XRP coin which helps in facilitating cross-border transactions, it said the bulk of its business is dominated outside of the US, and the slump of the XRP coin in recent times, fueled in part by the SEC lawsuit has not impacted its overall productivity. Garlinghouse said it increased its On-Demand Liquidity transactions which totalled $8 billion this quarter versus $1 billion in the same period last year.

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