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Bhushan is a FinTech enthusiast and holds a good flair in understanding financial markets. His interest in economics and finance draw his attention towards the new emerging Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency markets. He is continuously in a learning process and keeps himself motivated by sharing his acquired knowledge. In free time he reads thriller fictions novels and sometimes explore his culinary skills.
In a major revelation, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse hinted that the blockchain startup can go for an IPO this year. On Thursday, January 23, while speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Garlinghouses surprised the audience with his statements.
He predicts that in 2020, more companies from the blockchain and crypto industry are likely to go hold their IPOs. Besides, he also hinted that Ripple could one of those companies seeking an Initial Public Offering (IPO). During an interview with WSJ, he said:
“In the next 12 months, you’ll see IPOs in the crypto/blockchain space. We’re not going to be the first and we’re not going to be the last, but I expect us to be on the leading side… it’s a natural evolution for our company.”
Despite the regulatory sword hanging on its head, Ripple seems confident of its future. Besides, the Ripple CEO is making some strong and back-to-back predictions at the WEF 2020 event.
Just yesterday, Garlinghouse said that he expects the U.S. government to recognize Ripple’s efforts in developing faster payment solutions. The Ripple CEO commented this after the U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s interview at Davos.
Mnuchin noted:
“There are benefits to cross-border payment systems in lowering costs for consumers and businesses. We absolutely support companies working on this.”
Ripple Facing XRP-Related Lawsuits
Although the Ripple CEO is making some bold predictions for IPO, his company is still facing lawsuits over its XRP ICO in 2013. Over the last two years, several individuals investors have filed a petition that Ripple sold its XRP tokens as unregistered securities.
The SEC is currently evaluating these claims against Ripple. However, the company is confident that it has not violated any regulatory norms and will come out of this mess. It will be interesting to see whether the regulator will allow Ripple to hold an IPO in case it fails to eliminate the previous charges.
Right now the community has a rather uncertain opinion on the potentially coming IPO and the role of XRP in this process.
#xrp panic is in over the IPO issue. The IPO is completely separate. The question you need to ask is the value of XRP as a use case. Not what an IPO means to Ripple. There must be something serious under the hood for 10b valuation & IPO. This involves xrp. Think before you dump.
— Thomas (@tommyirl) January 24, 2020
But if we return to the SEC, we can see that it has been always strict on its stand for crypto companies. But just two months back in November 2019, the California-based Silvergate Bank went public with an IPO. The Silvergate Bank offers services focused on digital currency businesses with clients like miners, custodians, and exchanges.
Well, 2019 was certainly not a good year for XRP investors. While the overall cryptocurrency market saw an uptick, Ripple’s XRP was the only top-ten cryptocurrency to give negative returns. XRP price decreased significantly. The only good thing is that Ripple topped the list of blockchain capital fundraisers in 2019.
During its Series C funding round, Ripple raised $200 million from global investors which it plans to use for global expansion. It will be interesting to see how things move ahead in the coming time.