The possibility that blockchain payments firm Ripple will go public is low, according to the company’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse.
In a new interview, Garlinghouse says that Ripple is not is not eyeing an initial public offering (IPO) because of its relationship with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Ripple and the SEC have been at odds since the regulator sued the San Francisco-based firm for selling XRP without registering the token as security.
“An IPO has not been a high priority for us and part of that is because the SEC is not our friend. I’m not really popular there. They don’t have pictures of me in the halls of the SEC unless they have dart boards on them.”
Garlinghouse also says that Ripple has healthy financials so it does not need to raise additional capital.
“Most companies go public because they want to raise capital. We have been fortunate that we are in a strong financial position. We have continued to make acquisitions. We have continued to invest in lots of different projects around crypto, around XRP. For most people, there’s an urgency to go public and they’re talking about going public as quickly as they can because they want to raise capital.”
He says the SEC and the company’s balance sheet are the two primary reasons why Ripple has no interest in going public.
“We have a couple of dynamics here with Ripple. One is we have a hostile SEC, hostile US environment and we have a company that doesn’t need to raise capital, so it’s just been a back burner topic.”
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