Despite intense market speculation, the company has doubled down on its decision around Ripple IPO plans while accelerating growth in payments, stablecoins, and institutional services.
Ripple rules out IPO plans after $40 billion valuation round
Ripple has confirmed it has no current plans to pursue an IPO, even after raising $500 million at a $40 billion valuation in November.
President Monica Long said the company will remain private, arguing that a strong balance sheet and a roster of Wall Street investors remove any urgent need to go public.
The recent valuation round brought Fortress Investment Group and Citadel Securities onto Ripple’s cap table, alongside crypto-native funds such as Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, Brevan Howard, and Marshall Wace.
Moreover, Long said investors “really saw that our business is working,” pointing to Ripple’s long-term strategy of building digital asset infrastructure for businesses and financial institutions.
She also highlighted an inflection point for stablecoin payments in the past year. However, Ripple’s leadership maintains that remaining private offers the flexibility to continue investing in core products and acquisitions without the pressures of quarterly public-market scrutiny.
Why Ripple says the traditional IPO playbook no longer fits
Long argued that the usual drivers behind going public do not apply to Ripple’s current position. “Currently we still plan to remain private,” she stated, stressing that the “strength of our balance sheet stand alone” and interest from strategic investors such as Citadel and Fortress place the company “in a really healthy position” to finance growth without an IPO.
Earlier in 2025, Ripple completed a $1 billion tender offer at the same $40 billion valuation, signaling sustained institutional demand for equity exposure. That said, the company has repurchased more than 25% of its outstanding shares in recent years, providing liquidity to existing shareholders while carefully onboarding new partners through private funding rounds.
This balance between buybacks and new capital has allowed Ripple to deepen ties with major institutional players. However, Long’s comments suggest the firm sees more strategic value in targeted investments and partnerships than in the broader obligations of a public listing.
Expansion beyond payments into custody, prime brokerage, and treasury
Ripple’s CEO said the latest investment “reflects both Ripple’s incredible momentum and further validation of the market opportunity we’re aggressively pursuing.” Since its 2012 launch as a payments-focused company, Ripple has expanded into custody, stablecoins, prime brokerage, and corporate treasury, leveraging digital assets such as XRP.
Over the past two years, Ripple has executed six acquisitions, including two deals valued at more than $1 billion each. Moreover, the company acquired Rail and integrated it into Ripple Payments, combining RLUSD and XRP to support institutional-grade payment flows.
Ripple Payments volumes have now surpassed $95 billion, supported by a global footprint of 75 regulatory licenses. This growing ripple payments infrastructure reinforces management’s view that the firm can scale further without raising capital in public markets.
RLUSD stablecoin growth and expanding institutional demand
Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin crossed $1 billion in market capitalization within seven months of launch. However, it still trails dominant stablecoins such as Circle’s USDC and Tether’s USDT in overall size. Even so, the team sees strong momentum as institutional users test new settlement and treasury workflows.
The October acquisition of GTreasury expanded Ripple’s corporate treasury and cash management capabilities. Moreover, the company expects RLUSD stablecoin market usage to accelerate as institutions adopt tokenized dollars for payments and settlement, particularly after regulatory clarity from the GENIUS Act.
Management projects that the broader stablecoin market could grow dramatically as institutional adoption continues. In that context, ripple rlusd stablecoin market cap developments are viewed internally as an early indicator of long-term demand from banks, fintechs, and corporates.
Regulatory shift: Fed access and custody for RLUSD
BNY Mellon serves as RLUSD’s custodian, anchoring the asset in traditional financial market infrastructure. At the same time, Ripple is pursuing both a banking license and a Federal Reserve Master Account, seeking deeper integration with U.S. payment rails.
In November, Ripple’s chief legal officer welcomed Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller’s proposal for crypto firms to access “skinny” Fed accounts, calling the concept attractive and reassuring for traditional banks. Waller suggested that stablecoin issuers might directly use central bank payment systems, signaling an important shift in regulatory thinking.
“I wanted to send a message that this is a new era for the Federal Reserve in payments, the DeFi industry is not viewed with suspicion or scorn,” Waller said. That said, he added that the Fed should “embrace the disruption — don’t avoid it.” The ideas remain theoretical for now, but could gain traction if Waller ultimately succeeds Jerome Powell as Fed chair.
Institutional products: Ripple Prime and XRP market dynamics
Ripple’s institutional offering now extends beyond payments into prime brokerage services. Ripple Prime has doubled client collateral since integration, processes more than 60 million daily transactions, and has tripled overall platform size. The prime brokerage provides collateralized XRP lending to institutional clients, reinforcing Ripple’s push into capital markets infrastructure.
Despite this cross-vertical expansion, XRP’s market performance has lagged its historical peak. The token reached $3.65 in July 2025, still more than 30% below its January 2018 all-time high of $3.84. However, Ripple has continued to invest in the ecosystem, including a $50 million contribution to the National Crypto Association to support public education efforts.
Adoption data cited by the company show that a significant share of crypto holders already use digital assets to pay for goods and services. Moreover, growing institutional demand across prime brokerage, payments, and treasury indicates that ripple prime brokerage and related services are becoming a core part of corporate digital asset strategies.
Private path contrasts with peers heading to public markets
Ripple’s choice to stay private stands in contrast to other major crypto firms. Circle made its debut on the NYSE in June, opening strongly and now trading with a multibillion-dollar market capitalization. Meanwhile, BitGo has filed to pursue a U.S. exchange listing as well.
Elsewhere, Figure Technology raised $787.5 million in its IPO, signaling that capital markets remain open to digital asset infrastructure companies. However, Ripple valuation round activity and private strategic deals underscore an alternative route for scaling operations without the visibility and volatility of a public float.
These differing strategies highlight how institutions and regulators are engaging with stablecoin adoption, custody, and payments infrastructure. In that environment, ripple ipo plans are being deliberately deferred as management focuses on private capital, acquisitions, and expanding its role at the center of global digital asset markets.
In summary, Ripple is leaning on private capital, strategic investors, and a fast-growing stablecoin and payments franchise to fuel expansion, choosing flexibility over the constraints of a public listing for now.
Source: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2026/01/07/ripple-ipo-plans-private-funding/
