Ripple announces a $200 million share purchase and predicts a bright future in 2022

Ripple, one of the most reputable blockchain payments companies based in San Francisco recently announced a $200 million Series C share buyback, thereby bringing the firm’s valuation to a new high of $15 billion.

Ripple managed to raise $200 million in a Series C funding round way back in December 20199, with Tetragon Financial Group, an investment business based in the UK leading the way, alongside Route 66 Ventures and SBI Holdings.

In December 2020, though, the US Securities and Exchange Commission went ahead to file a $1.3 billion financial lawsuit against Ripple Labs co-founder Chris Larsen and CEO Garlinghouse alleging that the defendants were utilizing the native XRP coin as unregulated digital asset security.

Tetragon went ahead to sue Ripple in Delaware Chancery Court in early January 2021, seeking enforcement of its contractual agreement of a buyback clause to the value of its undisclosed investment sum, so as to distance themselves from Ripple amid their high-profile and without a doubt an openly public case.

However, the court found in favor of Ripple and against Tetragon, the plaintiff, barely three months later in April, a move that put an end to the financial dispute.

The willingness of Ripple to purchase shares from SBI Holdings, Route 66 Ventures, and Tetragon is a suggestion that the firm is looking to strengthen its financial position, a stance that Garlinghouse did hint at in a recent tweet thread.

“Even with 2021’s headwinds, it was our best year on record,” he stated, revealing that the company’s $1-billion bank balance makes it the “strongest we’ve ever been.”

Along with the news of the valuation and buyback, Garlinghouse went ahead to express optimism for the future of both Ripple X and RippleNet, the former of which is expected to expand the utility of the XRP Ledger in several areas that include central bank digital currencies, nonfungible tokens, as well as multichain functionalities, among others.

Upon contacting Ripple for more information regarding their ambitions, a representative spokesman said that the purchase was made owing to the firm’s “very ideal position in the industry,” stating that it is “cash flow positive” and has a “strong balance sheet.”

Still, they also stated that Ripple had its “best hiring year in 2021” and that it’s now looking to hire “hundreds of global employees this year” to supplement its current 500-person staff.