Ripple once weighed shutting down and handing XRP to shareholders, CEO says

Summary

• Ripple Chief Executive Brad Garlinghouse said he and co-founder Chris Larsen seriously considered shutting the company down and distributing its XRP to shareholders after the SEC sued in 2020.
• Garlinghouse said they chose to fight the SEC rather than close, a decision he said preserved hundreds of jobs but cost Ripple about $150 million in legal fees over four years.
• Ripple ultimately prevailed when a federal judge ruled XRP itself is not a security, and the case was settled last year after a change in SEC leadership that has taken a more accommodating stance toward crypto.

Ripple came close to shutting down rather than fighting the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Chief Executive Brad Garlinghouse said, describing a decision he and co-founder Chris Larsen faced after the agency sued the company in 2020.

Speaking at the University of Kansas School of Business earlier this week, Garlinghouse said the two seriously considered winding Ripple down and distributing its XRP holdings to shareholders. He described that as the easier path, against a government he said had “infinite power and resources.”

Ripple holds a large amount of XRP, and Garlinghouse said the company could have handed it to shareholders on a pro rata basis and dissolved, effectively ending the case by ending the company.

But they chose to fight because shutting down would have cost hundreds of jobs. “I'm glad in retrospect, but that was not obvious at the time,” he said.