Ripple’s leadership recently confirmed the company has no current plans to enter public markets via an IPO after completing a substantial $500 million funding round in November that valued the firm at approximately $40 billion. The company's president, Monica Long, stated that Ripple prefers to continue growing privately, citing a solid financial footing and a strategic preference for expanding through acquisitions and developing new products without exposure to the scrutiny and volatility typical of public markets.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Long elaborated on Ripple’s financial positioning and strategic direction. She emphasized that the company is in no immediate need of additional capital, but the strong interest from leading institutional investors—including Fortress Investment Group and Citadel Securities, alongside prominent crypto-focused funds—created an opportunity to secure additional resources under favorable terms. The negotiations around the fundraise led to what she described as a deal structure highly beneficial and aligned with Ripple’s long-term plans. The availability of capital from these investors reflects confidence in Ripple’s trajectory and the growing interest institutions have in the evolving digital asset space.
This fundraising round, coupled with Ripple’s existing financial strength, allowed the company to declare that it does not require public market exposure to fuel its near-term growth objectives. Long signaled that Ripple intends to leverage private capital and retain control over its development pace rather than responding to public shareholders’ short-term expectations. This stance underlines Ripples’ ambition to build out its offerings organically and through strategic acquisitions instead of relying on the public markets for liquidity or investor access.
Throughout 2025, Ripple executed a strategic acquisition campaign amounting to nearly $4 billion in total transaction value. This spree included four major purchases, each enhancing the company’s capabilities and breadth of services in the digital asset ecosystem. The acquired entities comprise:
- Hidden Road, a global prime broker specializing in multi-asset trading solutions,
- Rail, a platform that facilitates stablecoin payment infrastructure,
- GTreasury, a provider of enterprise treasury management systems,
- Palisade, a firm focused on digital asset wallet technology and custody services.
These acquisitions reflect Ripple’s intentional shift from its traditional core business centered around cross-border payments toward establishing itself as a full-stack provider of infrastructure tailored for enterprise digital asset operations. By integrating prime brokerage, custody, and treasury management functionalities, Ripple is positioning itself to offer comprehensive solutions that meet the intricate needs of institutions dealing with blockchain assets, including cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and tokenized securities.
The business impact of this approach is indicated by Ripple Payments processing a cumulative volume exceeding $95 billion as of November, evidencing the platform’s scale and adoption. The development of Ripple Prime, a new service built upon the Hidden Road acquisition, marks a significant expansion into institutional-grade financial products such as collateralized lending and specialized XRP trading instruments. Central to these initiatives is Ripple's proprietary dollar-pegged stablecoin, RLUSD, which underpins transactional flows and liquidity across the company's ecosystem.
Monica Long articulated Ripple’s overarching strategy as aimed at crafting "the connective tissue" essential for integrating traditional financial operations with emerging blockchain technologies. This entails delivering practical, reliable products that facilitate real-world use cases for cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and tokenized assets—moving beyond theoretical potential toward tangible business functions.
Despite this private market optimism, Ripple’s $40 billion valuation signifies a fourfold increase from the $10 billion valuation recorded during its 2019 Series C funding round, when $200 million was raised. However, there is a notable divergence between Ripple’s corporate financial metrics and the market behavior of its native cryptocurrency, XRP. Since July, XRP's price has declined by nearly 48%, a substantial drop that underscores a decoupling between the company's private valuation and public token market sentiment.
This disparity accentuates the fundamental distinction between private equity assessments and public market dynamics. While Ripple’s balance sheet grows stronger behind closed doors, XRP's open market performance reflects volatility and investor sentiment fluctuations unrelated to Ripple’s underlying corporate health.
Remaining private affords Ripple certain advantages, chiefly the freedom from quarterly earnings pressures and short-term performance expectations imposed by public investors. This breathing room allows management to concentrate on fully integrating recent acquisitions and meticulously developing new service offerings without the immediacy of public scrutiny. However, this also means Ripple faces reduced external impetus to quickly demonstrate returns on its significant investment in acquisitions.
Looking ahead, Ripple’s Chief Executive Officer, Brad Garlinghouse, has communicated intentions to continue pursuing strategic acquisitions and enhancing product innovation throughout 2026. The company benefits from a global customer base exceeding 300 enterprises, providing a solid foundation for promoting adoption of its expanding suite of services and its RLUSD stablecoin.
Nonetheless, Ripple’s ability to justify and sustain its elevated $40 billion valuation will depend heavily on the successful integration of its diverse newly acquired companies and the market acceptance of its stablecoin-driven products. Should the firm encounter challenges in harmonizing its expanded capabilities or experience slow returns on its acquisitions, the high private-market valuation could evolve into a burden, potentially complicating future fundraising efforts.
As Ripple navigates this transitional phase, its strategic choices underscore a careful balancing act: capitalizing on the flexibility and patient capital of private markets while proving the commercial viability of an ambitious vision to become a dominant infrastructure provider in the digital assets arena.