Ripple President Monica Long announced during the Swell conference in New York this week that the company has ‘no plans’ for an initial public offering (IPO).

Her comments came as a shock following Ripple’s $500 million funding round led by Fortress Investment Group and other investors, which lifted the company’s valuation to $40 billion.

“We are not focused on an IPO right now. We have the balance sheet, the liquidity to be growing and making moves on M&A and other big strategic partnerships,” Long said in an interview with CNBC.

Ripple had previously entertained the idea of going public, with CEO Brad Garlinghouse hinting at it back in 2023, but the long-lasting legal battle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) came in the way. 

Still, a future IPO is not entirely ruled out, as Long acknowledged that going public helps the industry mature. 

XRP hits new milestones

While an IPO is not in consideration, at least for the time being, Ripple and the associated cryptocurrency, XRP, have reached some other milestone this week.

For one, the XRP Ledger is seeing unparalleled user activity, with over 100 million ledgers closed on November 5.

Likewise, the RLUSD stablecoin Ripple launched in December 2024 crossed the $1 billion market cap mark on November 3, a figure Long described as ‘the first of many big milestones to come!’

Earlier this year, the company made several acquisitions, including that of prime broker Hidden Road, a deal valued at around $1.25 billion, and that of corporate treasury management platform GTreasury, worth $1 billion.

Ripple’s decision to postpone a potential public listing thus likely underscores the management’s desire to remain flexible and adapt to shifting market dynamics without the scrutiny or short-term demands of public shareholders.

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