Ripple’s IPO could come within 12 months, suggests CEO

In a Wall Street Journal interview given at a World Economic Forum event in Davos, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse suggested that his company could go public in the next 12 months. “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,” he said. The news comes off the back of Ripple raising $200 million in a series C round announced December of last year that valued the company at $10 billion.

Why it matters:

• Within the past couple months we’ve seen a handful of crypto companies IPO including Canaan, a China-based cryptocurrency mining manufacturer, which became the first crypto unicorn to go public in November 2019.
• Going public means opening up the books. When the prospectus is filed, crypto enthusiasts will gain insight into one of, if not the largest crypto companies in the world. In this vein it will be interesting to see how traditional institutional investors react to Ripple’s business model, which to date, financially speaking, has primarily consisted of XRP sales.