Ripple CEO: IPO was not a “high priority” due to strong financial position.

Brad Garlinghouse believes that Ripple is in a “strong financial position” and that the Ripple IPO is a “back-burner topic.” Garlinghouse believes that Gary Gensler's “days are numbered” as the CEO of the SEC. Bringing more capital to the industry

Ripple's CEO has said that an IPO is not a priority for the company, partly because of problems with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Speaking at the Ripple Swell conference, Brad Garlinghouse talked about the future of XRP, the SEC, crypto regulation, Ripple's new RLUSD stablecoin and XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) offerings.

On the topic of IPOs, Garlinghouse said, “IPOs haven't been a big deal for us, and part of that is because the SEC is not our friend.”

He added that it is because they want to raise capital for a company to issue an IPO. Garlinghouse noted that Ripple is in a “strong financial position” as it invests in various crypto projects.

“We have two variables here with Ripple,” Garlinghouse said. “One is that we have an aggressive SEC, an aggressive American environment, and a company that doesn't need to raise capital. So the issue was just a back burner topic.

Notably, he did not rule out the possibility of an IPO in the future.

The head wind is easing.

Touching on the SEC, Garlinghouse called the agency “operating outside the law” when it comes to XRP, a “fraudulent agency”. Despite the CEO ruling that XRP is not a security, the SEC is still saying it is. In his words, what the agency is doing is “not ethical behavior.”

Despite the hurdles Ripple faces with the SEC, Garlinghouse noted that Gary Gensler's days as SEC chairman are “numbered” and that regulatory transparency will eventually come to the industry.

Garlinghouse spoke about the RLUSD stablecoin, the company has been using stablecoins like USDC and Tether for payment streams for years. They indicated that their stablecoin would bring more liquidity to the XRP registry and that they aim to replace USDC and Tether with RLUSD.

In the year Looking ahead to 2025, Garlinghouse believes the headwinds affecting the market — FTX, the banking crisis and Senator Elizabeth Warren calling crypto bad — will begin to make it easier to bring more capital into the industry.