Ripple currently has a lot on the table so the date for the IPO may depend on how soon the lawsuit with the SEC is settled.
Ripple is currently in a legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over issuing unregistered securities. While people think Ripple has been discouraged for any future developments, the company plans on going public after the lawsuit. This was disclosed by Yoshitaka Kitao, the CEO of SBI Holdings Inc (TYO: 8473), a Japanese financial heavyweight.
Kitao in a statement during the earning presentation call on Wednesday said that Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, and Chris Larsen, executive chairman of the company are fully aware of this.
“After the current lawsuit, Ripple will go public. The current CEO wants to do that. Chris wants to do that,” he said.
SBI Holdings Is the largest outside shareholder of Ripple, and they believe that their investment will certainly pay off once it goes public. It is important to understand that Ripple had already planned to go public even before their lawsuit.
In 2020, Garlinghouse forecasted that many cryptocurrency and blockchain-related companies will go public. He added that Ripple may not be the first or the last, but they may take an active lead in the industry.
There are questions about the price of XRP once Ripple goes public. It is said that Ripple moving from private ownership to public ownership will have no impact on XRP since they are not tied in any way. Buying shares of Ripple in the public market will not be the same as buying XRP.
SBI Holdings Throws Weight behind Ripple
Kitao also stated that another company supported by the SBI Holdings called blockchain consortium R3 will also go public in the future. SBI has previously shown a lot of support to Ripple by offering to give year-end benefits to shareholders in XRP.
This first happened in 2020 when SBI Holdings shareholders received their benefits in the native currency. Shareholders with at least 100 shares will receive $23 in XRP. The exact amount is set to be determined on June 30. Ripple currently has a lot on the table so the date for the IPO may depend on how soon the lawsuit is settled.
Lawsuit Against Ripple is Still Ongoing
According to the SEC, XRP is treated as a security. Ripple, as well as the other two executives, have been accused of obtaining $1.3 billion through unregistered securities. It was also alleged that the two executives decided not to register their personal sales of XRP worth around $600 million.
Garlinghouse, however, sees this lawsuit as an attack by SEC against the cryptocurrency industry as this action may kill innovation in the US. Kitao who also appears to be a board member of Ripple is positive that the company will come out victorious. According to him, the financial watchdog of Japan has already made it clear that XRP is not a security, so he expects the US to take similar stands.
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