Ripple’s $50B Valuation Keeps IPO Talk in Check

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse adopted a noticeably softer tone regarding the company’s IPO prospects at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, even as Ripple simultaneously executes a $750 million share buyback that establishes its private-market valuation at $50 billion.

The combination is telling: warmer language on going public, paired with a fresh vote of confidence in staying private, indicates optionality rather than a definitive policy shift.

• Buyback: Ripple is repurchasing up to $750 million in shares from investors and employees, with the tender open through the end of April.
• Valuation: The buyback values Ripple at $50 billion, a 25% increase from the $40 billion mark set in November 2025.
• CEO comments: Garlinghouse stated that Ripple has been happily private for a long time but is now more neutral on the IPO question, according to Finbold’s account of his remarks in Wyoming.
• No filing: Ripple has not submitted an S-1, announced a listing decision, or provided any timetable.

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Why Ripple Keeps Buying Back Instead of Going Public with IPO

The current $750 million tender, first reported by Bloomberg, follows a $1 billion buyback attempt Ripple conducted earlier at the $40 billion valuation, which saw surprisingly low participation. Employees were reluctant to sell shares while the crypto market was booming. That calculus has shifted: following a substantial market correction, shareholders now appear more willing to cash out.

Xrp (XRP)24h7d30d1yAll time

The buyback also follows a year of heavy capital deployment, including the acquisition of Hidden Road as Ripple expands well beyond its original payments footprint. In November 2025, the company raised $500 million from Citadel Securities at that $40 billion valuation. This capital provides Ripple with the room to fund growth without touching public markets.

Ripple now sits among the top ten most valuable private companies globally, alongside SpaceX and OpenAI, a bracket that makes an IPO a branding decision rather than a funding necessity.

Ripple President Monica Long has been the company’s most direct voice on the subject, and her position leaves little ambiguity about near-term intent.

“No plans for an IPO.”

Monica Long, President of Ripple.

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The CEO’s Shift From ‘No’ to ‘Neutral’

Garlinghouse’s remarks at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium describe a company that has been happily private for years but is now more open-minded about a listing than it used to be. Ripple has not filed with the SEC, and the years of regulatory uncertainty that once kept public-listing plans firmly on the shelf have only recently cleared enough for the topic to be discussed casually again.

Ripple also remains one of the largest single holders of XRP, with roughly 34 billion tokens sitting in escrow. This is a position worth tens of billions of dollars that would factor directly into any future public valuation model.

This overlap between Ripple’s corporate balance sheet and XRP’s circulating supply is exactly why any concrete IPO signal, rather than a rhetorical one, would move markets well beyond the company’s own cap table.

The tender offer runs through the end of April, and participation levels relative to the underwhelming $1 billion attempt at $40 billion will be the first real data point worth watching. A strong take-up alongside continued private funding rounds would support the case that Ripple stays private indefinitely; a stall, paired with any formal filing signal, would be the actual trigger for repricing IPO odds.

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