Despite Crypto Winter, Ripple CEO, Brad Garlinghouse said the San Francisco-based payments company will explore acquiring additional crypto ventures in the future.
A crypto winter is a period like this in which crypto values fell and stayed down, and most of the industry’s innovation came to a halt.
According to Garlinghouse, it has an “extremely robust balance sheet” and is at a point in its development when it is more likely to be a buyer than a seller.
“I’d say there’s a lot of room for growth in crypto, and we’re looking at a lot of different niches for it. We’ll construct part of that internally – the carbon credit program is something we’ve already started – but we’ve already invested in around 30 or 40 firms in the crypto ecosystem, and we’ll continue to look for ways to expand.
“We’ll construct part of that internally – the carbon credit program is one example – but we’ve invested in over 30 or 40 companies in the crypto ecosystem, and we’ll continue to look for opportunities to grow through external acquisitions as well,” Garlinghouse said.
The CEO believes that mergers and acquisitions will become more common in the crypto market.
He said, “I believe the blockchain and crypto market will see an increase in [mergers and acquisitions]. That has yet to be seen. But I believe that will happen in the future. And I’m sure we’ll think about stuff like that as the situation develops.”
Garlinghouse continues, Ripple also intends to consider an initial public offering (IPO) if its ongoing case with the US Securities and Exchange Commission is resolved (SEC).
The San Francisco-based payments startup isn’t the only one considering a buyout: Brett Harrison, the president of the crypto exchange FTX.US, also said that his company intends to look into the market “for prospective merger and acquisition options” to help get more customers and/or regulatory licenses.
“We’re doing that all over the world, in places like Japan, Australia, Dubai, and other locations where we’ve been able to collaborate with local companies or make acquisitions to secure the licenses we require,” Harrison said.
