Ripple Ditches IPO Plans in Surprise Pivot

Ripple XRP $2.25 24h volatility: 5.1% Market cap: $136.56 B Vol. 24h: $6.00 B has no plans to go public in 2026. President Monica Long confirmed on January 6 that the company intends to remain private, citing a strong balance sheet and no need for public market capital.

Ripple raised $500 million in November 2025 at a $40 billion valuation. Long added that the capital provides ample flexibility to fund growth without the pressure or disclosure burden of an IPO.

On the other hand, XRP has dropped 5% in the last 24 hours despite more than $19 million in exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows on January 6th.

Unexpectedly, ETF issuer WisdomTree Digital Commodity Services withdrew its plans for a spot XRP ETF.

Strong Balance Sheet Removes Urgency

Long said companies usually pursue listings to access liquidity and a broader investor base. Ripple, she argued in an interview with Bloomberg, already has both. The fundraising round attracted Fortress Investment Group, Citadel Securities, and major crypto funds.

Ripple also completed a $1 billion tender offer earlier in 2025 at the same valuation and has repurchased more than 25% of its outstanding shares in recent years, giving early shareholders liquidity without a listing.

Instead of preparing for public markets, Ripple spent 2025 building institutional infrastructure. The company closed nearly $4 billion in acquisitions, including prime broker Hidden Road, treasury platform GTreasury, payments firm Rail, and custody provider Palisade.

Hidden Road alone cost $1.25 billion. However, Long also stated that the acquisition pace will slow in 2026.

Payments and Stablecoins Drive Growth

Ripple Payments processed more than $95 billion in volume as of late 2025.

RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar stablecoin, crossed a $1 billion market cap within seven months and now forms the core of both payments and treasury products.

The company is expanding deeper into institutional use cases, including collateralized lending, stablecoin settlement, and XRP-based liquidity.

Long said that Ripple is building the infrastructure that traditional finance needs to use digital assets at scale.

Meanwhile, XRP Ledger has also shown promising growth over the past year. As pointed out in a series of posts on X by RippleX Developers, “XRPL is now one of the top 10 blockchains for RWA activity.”

Issuers such as Ondo Finance, OpenEden, Archax, Guggenheim Treasury Services, Mercado Bitcoin, VERT, and the Dubai Land Department are building or launching assets on XRPL as well.

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