Ripple has initiated the buyback on the heels of a successful year for the blockchain and remittance network, as it looks towards new offerings.
Payment protocol and crypto exchange platform Ripple recently announced a buyback of its Series C shares at a valuation of $15 billion. According to Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, who made the announcement on Twitter, the shares initially sold in December 2019. At the time, the remittance network was looking to generate funds and realized $200 million, with a $10 billion valuation in the process.
Since then, Ripple has experienced tremendous growth, especially in the past year, due to liquidity and cross-border payment channels. According to the company, “The buyback places Ripple’s new valuation at $15B and reflects Ripple’s strong position in the market and global company momentum – Ripple’s global business has grown exponentially and 2021 was the company’s best year to date.”
According to the distributed ledger tech company, its RippleNet platform doubled its transactions in 2021. In addition, it also signed on the central banks of Bhutan and Palau as CBDC clients.
Ripple Appears Set to Soldier on Following Share Buyback
Ripple’s initial Series C fundraise also happened before its ongoing legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Back in December 2020, the regulatory body filed charges against Ripple over allegations of financial impropriety. According to the SEC, Ripple executives sold $1.3 billion worth of XRP in an unregistered securities offering. However, the company countered the SEC’s allegations by claiming that XRP should not be a security. Ripple further stated that the commission failed to provide “fair notice” to treat XRP any differently than BTC.
Since the onset of the legal proceedings, UK investor Tetragon Financial Group also attempted to sue Ripple early last year. The company was part of the investor pool in the Series C round and was looking to back out of its investment. However, that grievance is now moot because Tetragon’s stake was among the equity shares repurchased by Ripple.
Garlinghouse underscored Ripple’s claims of being in a strong financial position – despite the perceived hiccups from its confrontation with the SEC. As the Ripple CEO explained:
“‘Slow down’ is not in our vocabulary. Even with 2021’s headwinds, it was our best year on record, and Ripple’s financial position ($1B in the bank) is the strongest we’ve ever been.”
Ripple, which grew 33% in the last quarter, aims to further expand its operations to enter new developments. In his tweet thread, Garlinghouse hinted at “NFTs, CBDCs, interoperability bridges, sidechains”, to name a few. Earlier this month, Ripple released its NFT devnet, which would usher in NFT trading and minting to the blockchain.
Ripple Services
Ripple, often referred to as the ‘Banker’s Coin’ in the crypto world, can facilitate payment channels between banks. The platform also allows other financial service firms to swiftly transfer money across borders at a lower cost. In addition to this, Ripple also provides its On-Demand Liquidity feature, which deploys the XRP token for cross-border payments. Furthermore, the remittance network also assists with issuing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
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