- Ripple President Monica Long dismissed speculation that the company would launch an IPO this year.
- Keeping the business private is a favorable outcome for XRP, especially in the long term, as it ensures flexibility in executing its roadmap.
Speculations about a Ripple Initial Public Offering (IPO) have been popping up every now and then. The crypto community’s suspicions were fueled by comments from the company’s senior executives over the years. However, Monica Long, the company’s president, has once again shut them down.
Ripple IPO: A Constantly Resurfacing Topic
Talks about Ripple’s IPO gained significant traction from CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2020.
“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,” Garlinghouse said during a panel discussion. “It’s a natural evolution for our company.”
Ripple shelved the plan after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initiated a multi-year legal battle against it in December of that year. It came as a reasonable response amid market uncertainty and to prevent further regulatory complications. Nevertheless, Garlinghouse still threw in the possibility of going public outside the US in 2024 due to the “hostile” regulations in the country at that time.
Fast-forward to November 2025, Ripple successfully raised $500 million, bringing its valuation to $40 billion, as the US regulatory climate shifted to a more favorable stance toward digital assets. The event prompted analysts and the crypto community to revive the IPO narrative.
Monica Long Dismisses Ripple IPO Claims
Long dismissed the public’s IPO suspicions in a recent interview with Bloomberg. She clarified that the blockchain-focused payments provider currently plans to remain private.
The company president highlighted that their business is in a healthy position to fund and invest in its sustainable growth. Hence, it doesn’t presently need to tap public markets for liquidity.
Along the way, Tim Stenovic, host of Bloomberg Crypto, pressed Long for more information about Ripple’s $500 million in November, and whether the preferential protections to the investors—including Citadel Securities, Galaxy Digital, Pantera, and others—were necessary. The senior official merely described the deal as “very positive, very favorable for Ripple” without further elaborating her answer.
Why is Ripple’s Continuous Move to Remain Private Favorable for XRP?
Before proceeding, it’s important to emphasize that Ripple and XRP are two distinct entities. Nonetheless, they exhibit a symbiotic relationship.
The former is a tech firm responsible for developing the XRP Ledger (XRPL), the underlying chain for XRP. It’s the largest entity holding XRP and provides cross-payment, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, and other services that build on the XRPL architecture.
On the other hand, XRP is the native token of XRPL and operates on a community-driven model. Its valuation depends on prevailing supply and demand dynamics.
With that out of the way, here are the key reasons why Ripple’s continued private status is favorable for XRP.
1. Focus on Long-Term Goals
Going public would subject Ripple to periodic disclosures, including quarterly and annual reports. This often leads to “short-termism,” in which a company focuses too much on short-term projects or objectives to appease investors and secure immediate profit. But then again, it trades off long-term goals.
Ripple and XRP have always been about the long play. Hence, continuing on a private route allows it to focus on its multi-year timeline to gradually transform the global payments and banking infrastructure without the pressure of periodically pumping its stock price.
The business has always taken a measured approach to avoid compromising its long-term vision. For example, it took years of planning, research, evaluation, negotiations, and acquisitions before it evolved from a mere cross-border payments-focused technology solutions provider into a full-service, multi-asset financial ecosystem player with the introduction of Ripple Prime.
2. Untethered Decisions
A public company would need shareholder votes and lengthy disclosure processes before any proposal, and when making acquisitions or major decisions. Ripple’s private nature enables it to move quickly when opportunities arise without bureaucratic delays.
Ripple’s flexibility was instrumental in its significant acquisition of GTreasury last year, which surprised most in the crypto community. It swooped in on the $1 billion buyout of a company that would give it access to a $120 trillion corporate treasury market without having to justify its decision to clueless investors who could not grasp the long-term potential of the deal and whose views are limited to short-term risks.
3. Avoiding Dual-Asset Risk
If Ripple were to go public, investors might choose the “safe” alternative of buying its stock rather than the XRP token. While XRP is aligned with the ISO 20022 standard, Ripple stocks enjoy rigid investor protections. Not to mention that they would benefit from dividends.
The scenario would lead investors to choose between owning Ripple equity and owning XRP tokens. This could dilute capital flowing into the XRP ecosystem.
Ripple staying private would mean the primary way for the public to gain exposure to the success of its technology and business is through XRP. This ensures that the focus remains on the digital asset and maintains its status as a “bridge asset” for liquidity.
4. Edge in Competition
Lastly, reduced regulatory and public scrutiny from time to time gives Ripple an edge in building its enterprise crypto platform behind closed doors. It would prevent competitors from prematurely discovering its strategic roadmap and ensure that its major projects or initiatives are unveiled only when they’re truly market-ready.
