Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has once again softened his stance on a potential initial public offering.
The company has seemingly moved from being firmly against the idea to being more neutral.
Speaking at the 2026 Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, Garlinghouse said Ripple has been "very happily private for a long time," but added that the company is now "more neutral" on the IPO question.
Years of IPO-related speculation
Ripple's IPO story dates back to early 2020. Back then, he expected an IPO to emerge somewhere in the cryptocurrency industry within the following year. However, the SEC's lawsuit threw a wrench in the works.
At Consensus 2021, Garlinghouse made perhaps his strongest public statement in favor of a future listing. He said the "likelihood that Ripple is a public company is very high at some point." However, argued that the company first needed to resolve its legal battle with the SEC and obtain the regulatory clarity necessary to pursue an IPO.
The SEC lawsuit was the main obstacle to a Ripple IPO.
However, even after the company emerged victorious against the SEC, Garlinghouse said a U.S. IPO was not an "immediate term priority."
In March 2025, after the SEC's decision to drop its appeal in the long-running case, Garlinghouse said Ripple had reached the stage where it "could consider" an IPO. Ripple President Monica Long later confirmed this position.
In April 2025, Ripple's president said the company was not interested in pursuing an IPO at that time. Instead, Long pointed to Ripple's strong balance sheet. In November, she said Ripple had "no plan, no timeline" for an IPO.
Now, it seems like the company is no longer ruling out going public.