Ripple announces a $200 million share repurchase and expresses hope for 2022
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Ripple, a blockchain payments business, has launched a $200 million Series C share repurchase, valuing the San Francisco-based tech corporation at a record-high $15 billion.
Ripple secured $200 million in a Series C fundraising round in December 2019, with Tetragon Financial Group, a UK-based investment business, acting as the main investor with SBI Holdings and Route 66 Ventures.
However, the US Securities and Exchange Commission announced a $1.3 billion financial lawsuit against Ripple Labs, as well as co-founder Chris Larsen and CEO Brad Garlinghouse, in December 2020, alleging the parties of exploiting the native XRP coin as an unauthorized digital asset security.
Tetragon sued Ripple in early January 2021 in the Delaware Chancery Court, seeking to enforce its contractual requirement of a repurchase clause to the value of its secret investment sum, in order to distance itself from Ripple amid their high-profile and publicly public battle.
However, only three months later, in April, the court found in favor of Ripple and against the plaintiff, Tetragon, thereby ending the financial issue.
Ripple’s decision to readily acquire shares from Tetragon, SBI Holdings, and Route 66 Ventures suggests that the company is looking to strengthen its financial position, a stance that Garlinghouse alluded to in a recent Twitter thread.
“Even with the challenges of 2021, it was our best year on record,” he said, adding that the company’s $1 billion bank balance makes it “the healthiest we’ve ever been.”
Along with the news of the buyback and valuation, Garlinghouse expressed optimism for the future of RippleNet and Ripple X, the latter of which is expected to increase the utility of the XRP Ledger in a variety of emerging sectors, such as nonfungible tokens, central bank digital currencies, and interoperable, multichain functionalities, among others.
When contacted by Ripple for more information, a representative spokesman indicated that the purchase was made due to their “very strong position in the industry,” stating that the firm is “cash flow positive” and has a “strong balance sheet.”
Along with this, they stated that Ripple had its “biggest recruiting year in 2021” and that it is now looking to hire “hundreds of global personnel this year” to supplement its existing 500-person staff.
