Ripple’s IPO May Ruin XRP Price, Experts Warn

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Bhushan Akolkar
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Off lately, the San Francisco-based blockchain startup Ripple has been frequent in news. Ripple CEO Brad Gralinghouse has been much vocal about his company’s plans for 2020 and ahead.

During the last week’s World Economic Forum 2020, the U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin expressed confidence in the development of new cross-border payment systems. Post Mnuchin’s statement, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse also said that this could turn positive in favor of the company.

Ripple has been actively working in the past on blockchain-powered payments as well as XRP-based payment solutions. Thus, any positive move from the government in this regard could be beneficial to Ripple. But Garlinghouse’s optimism doesn’t stop here.

Ripple IPO Plans Can Turn Negative for XRP

In another statement, the Ripple CEO predicted that a number of crypto companies will go public this year, and Ripple can be one of them. He said:

“In the next 12 months, you’ll see IPOs in the crypto/blockchain space. We’re not going to be the first and we’re not going to be the last, but I expect us to be on the leading side… It’s a natural evolution for our company.”

This news about Ripple going public has really got the crypto world thinking. But experts have warned that it is difficult to predict the reaction of the XRP community on Ripple’s IPO plans. Christy Ai, anchor at Boom Bust thinks that the company’s IPO plans can be detrimental to the XRP price. Explaining it, Christy says:

“Right now, half the people at XRP they are not using it for the actual utility, they are holding it like an investment. Back when it ballooned to $3, or even now when it’s at $0.22, that value as a utility token, it’s not worth $0.22. So we’re expected to see a major devaluation even though it does have a utility purpose.”

He added that with Ripple going public and listing its shares, investors of XRP will be upset as it will negatively impact the speculative nature of XRP tokens.

Last year, Ripple secured the highest funding in the blockchain industry raising over $200 million. The company has said that it will use these funds for opening global offices and hiring more talent. Besides, Ripple also said that it plans to expand its XRP payments network in other regions of the world.

Expansion Plans

It is also known that going public is not the only ambitious plan of Ripple. The company is also planning to continue its expansion across the globe. Now it is going to actively develop its ties with partners in Brazil.

In 2019, Ripple already established relations with such major banks as Bradesco and Santander. But the company doesn’t want to stop. It wants to win the market offering cheap and instant cross-border payments. And Brazil will be one of the priorities for this year.

Author: Bhushan Akolkar

Bhushan is a FinTech enthusiast and holds a good flair in understanding financial markets. His interest in economics and finance draw his attention towards the new emerging Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency markets. He is continuously in a learning process and keeps himself motivated by sharing his acquired knowledge. In free time he reads thriller fictions novels and sometimes explore his culinary skills.

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