During a recent interview with Devin Ryan, director of financial technology research at JMP Securities, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that Ripple owns more than $100 billion worth of XRP tokens.
“The total value of the XRP we own now exceeds $100 billion,” he said.
He believes that this should be taken into account when determining the company’s valuation.
Ripple has been trading in the secondary private markets at a significant discount to net asset value, according to Garlinghouse.
In early 2024, Reuters reported that Ripple had a valuation of roughly $11 billion after buying back nearly $300 million worth of shares. However, according to Garlinghouse, this projected valuation is “very outdated.”
“I think it’s safe to assume that the $11 billion is very outdated at this point,” he said.
At the same time, the Ripple boss seemingly questioned MicroStrategy’s sky-high premium to NAV. However, he also added that he was not “anti-MicroStrategy,” wishing the company “massive success.”
Not going public
There has been speculation about Ripple’s potential initial public offering (IPO) for years. However, Garlinghouse has clarified that the company did not prioritize going public since made little sense during the previous SEC administration.
“Ripple has been in a position where we have not prioritized going public,” he said. As noted by Garlinghouse, this did not make sense in the previous SEC administration.
The winds have changed
Garlinghouse has predicted that Ripple will continue to be the go-to blockchain infrastructure company for financial institutions.
He has added that there is “tremendous demand” for the company’s custody solutions.
Moreover, there is also a lot of excitement surrounding Ripple USD (RLUSD).
Now that anti-crypto SEC Chair Gensler is leaving the agency, Ripple has experienced growing demand over the past few weeks, which Garlinghouse says is a “bit exhausting.”
As reported by U.Today, the vast majority of Ripple’s current job offers are in the U.S., which is a dramatic change compared to a year ago.
“I think we find ourselves in a really good place,” Garlinghouse added.
