Ripple CEO announces an Initial Public Offering

Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of a crypto startup Ripple, recently made a surprising announcement during the Davos World Economic Forum summit. According to him, Ripple will hold an Initial Public Offering (IPO) later this year.

Of course, as many likely know Ripple is far from being the first crypto-related business to announce an IPO. However, even though IPOs historically did not work out for crypto firms, chances are that Ripple might be able to break this unfortunate pattern.

This decision has intrigued many because crypto firms trying to go public is something of the paradox in the industry. One reason for this is the fact that companies going public need to be fully regulated, and since the crypto industry is still highly unregulated — especially in the US — they are mostly locked out of lucrative markets.

Not to mention the fact that crypto businesses are still considered very risky for institutional investors, who mostly do not understand digital money properly. Even so, there are some notable exceptions, especially in 2020, when numerous central banks are trying to develop their own CBDCs.

2020 to bring a surge in crypto
IPOs

During his speech at Davos, Garlinghouse did
more than just announce Ripple’s upcoming IPO. He also predicted that IPOs are
likely to become a trend in the crypto industry during 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.” –@bgarlinghouse at #WEF20

— Asheesh Birla | CEO at Evernorth (@ashgoblue) January 23, 2020

He admitted that Ripple is not the first firm
to hold an IPO, but he remains certain that it won’t be the last. In fact, he
thinks that Ripple is making this move early enough to become a leader and set
an example for others who might be ready to make such a move.

Of course, IPOs are still rather difficult to
pull off, despite their potential. Not to mention that the firms need to be
very transparent when it comes to the state of their finances. However, the
entire crypto industry expects the new decade to bring new levels of openness
and acceptance of crypto, and there are already many entities making moves to
ensure that this happens. with Ripple certainly being among them.