Ripple Shelves IPO Plans as Stablecoins Eclipse the ‘Remittance Powerhouse’

Ripple CEO Monica Long’s denial of IPO plans and large-scale whale sell-offs trigger a sharp drop in XRP prices
Tron-based stablecoin settlement volume reaches $24.2 billion, surpassing Ripple’s remittance scale by more than tenfold
Ripple pivots with RLUSD launch and Rail acquisition, raising concerns over XRP’s shrinking role amid a dual-track strategy

Ripple, long regarded as a symbol of innovation in cross-border remittances and once touted as a prime initial public offering candidate, has effectively put its listing ambitions on ice. While management cites ample capital reserves as the reason, the market largely interprets the move as a reflection of Ripple’s waning competitiveness as leadership in international remittances has shifted decisively toward stablecoins such as USDT. Industry attention is now focused on whether Ripple’s own stablecoin, RLUSD, can ultimately secure XRP’s survival.

“Staying Private, Capital Is Ample”: IPO Expectations Deflate After Firm Denial

On January 8, according to crypto analytics platform The Block, Ripple reaffirmed that it has no plans to pursue an IPO in the near term. In an interview with Bloomberg on January 6, Ripple President Monica Long made clear that the company intends to remain private for the foreseeable future. “The primary reasons companies go public are typically to raise capital and secure liquidity,” she said, adding that “we are already in a very strong financial position.”

Indeed, Ripple maintains that its cash flow is robust. In November last year, the company was valued at $40 billion through a $500 million secondary transaction. Ripple has also sought to demonstrate that it can expand its footprint through mergers and acquisitions without going public, completing four acquisitions in 2025 alone, including Hidden Road, Rail, Gtreasury, and Palisade. Long emphasized that “Ripple’s strategy is about building products,” adding that the company aims to provide technology that connects traditional finance with blockchain, cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and other tokenized assets in real-world applications.

The unequivocal denial of IPO plans, however, immediately became a catalyst for selling pressure. According to CoinMarketCap, XRP fell 2.48% on January 6 from the previous 24 hours to $2.27. The decline stood in stark contrast to the explosive rally that had recently drawn investor attention. Market participants attributed the drop to a combination of IPO disappointment, technical overheating, and profit-taking by large holders.

Overheating indicators amplified the downside. As of January 7, XRP’s relative strength index surged to 89.37, its highest level since December, signaling extreme overbought conditions. As disappointment-driven selling emerged, $41.3 million worth of positions were liquidated, intensifying downward pressure. On-chain data further showed that whales moved approximately 123 million XRP over a 48-hour period, with around 29.5 million XRP flowing into exchanges such as Coinbase, reinforcing the view that large investors were exiting positions and exacerbating the price decline.

This development effectively neutralized what had previously supported XRP prices. Just a week earlier, sentiment had been markedly different, with heavy inflows into U.S.-listed spot XRP exchange-traded funds driving a 27.78% weekly surge. Canary Capital’s XRPC ETF alone managed $916 million in assets, absorbing roughly 4.7% of circulating supply and leading buying momentum. Exchange-held XRP balances had also fallen 28.6% year on year to 16.05 billion tokens, fueling expectations of supply-driven price appreciation. Yet once IPO prospects evaporated following Long’s remarks, ETF inflows and supply contraction proved insufficient to restore investor confidence. Analysts now view defense of the $2.20 support level as a critical test for whether XRP can preserve gains accumulated over the past 30 days.

Tron Handles Ten Times More Than Ripple as Stablecoins Seize Remittance Leadership

Market observers increasingly point to the restructuring of the remittance landscape as the underlying reason Ripple is not rushing toward an IPO. According to a September report by iM Securities, Ripple initially grew as a fast and low-cost cross-border payment solution, but its position has been challenged by the rapid expansion of stablecoins. Of the $270 billion stablecoin market, 98% is dollar-denominated, with approximately 15% used for cross-border transfers. The report noted that stablecoins, whose value is pegged to fiat currencies, carry limited volatility risk, while XRP fluctuates with market supply and demand, undermining its suitability as a fully reliable bridge currency.

Transaction flow data underscore Ripple’s disadvantage. According to Glassnode, daily combined settlement volumes for Tron-based stablecoins such as USDT and USDC averaged $24.2 billion over a 90-day moving average. By comparison, daily remittance volume on the XRP network reached just $2.2 billion during the same period, meaning Tron processed more than ten times Ripple’s payment volume. Glassnode attributed this gap to stablecoins emerging as the core liquidity conduit of the market, while transfer activity tied to native network assets has comparatively weakened.

In effect, leadership in payments and remittances has shifted from volatile individual tokens to stablecoins. Ripple has long highlighted its ODL technology, which enables settlement within two to four seconds and charges fees below 1%, as a competitive edge over the legacy SWIFT system. Recently, however, stablecoins operating on low-cost blockchains such as Tron have delivered comparable speed and efficiency, eroding Ripple’s technological differentiation. While some continue to flag regulatory risks associated with Tron-based stablecoins, market behavior suggests that efficiency has already driven adoption of stablecoins as the default remittance rail.

The RLUSD Bet and the Viability of a ‘Dual-Track Strategy’

Ripple has clearly recognized the shift in market gravity toward stablecoins and has begun to respond. The launch of its dollar-pegged stablecoin RLUSD in December 2024, following approval from the New York Department of Financial Services, marked a strategic inflection point. RLUSD is fully backed by cash-equivalent assets, including dollar deposits and short-term Treasury securities. The market has characterized Ripple’s approach as a dual-track strategy, positioning XRP as a high-speed bridge asset while deploying RLUSD as a stable store of value.

The $200 million acquisition of stablecoin payment platform Rail last August further reflects Ripple’s push to expand infrastructure. Long’s emphasis on bridging traditional finance with blockchain-based assets signals a strategic shift away from being viewed solely as a “remittance coin” toward becoming an enterprise-grade financial infrastructure provider. Yang Hyun-kyung, an analyst at iM Securities, noted that “issuing RLUSD was an inevitable choice in a rapidly growing market,” adding that Ripple’s future hinges on global network expansion, regulatory integration, and differentiated positioning against USDT and USDC.

Nevertheless, RLUSD faces an uphill battle as a late entrant. As of early January, its market capitalization stood at $1.3 billion, translating to a market share of just 0.4%. The contrast with USDC, which boasts a market capitalization of $74.9 billion, highlights the disparity in scale. While Ripple is attempting to close the gap through multi-chain expansion, many analysts remain skeptical that entrenched network effects built by USDT and USDC can be overturned in the short term.

Industry focus is now shifting beyond RLUSD’s success to the evolving role of XRP itself. If stablecoins become the primary settlement instrument within Ripple’s ecosystem, XRP’s function as a bridge currency will inevitably diminish. Still, because all transactions on the XRP Ledger require fees paid and burned in XRP, the token may be redefined from a remittance intermediary to a form of network “gas” that powers the system. Ripple is also accelerating development of central bank digital currency platforms through pilot projects with countries such as Palau and Bhutan. Ultimately, Ripple’s future will depend on whether XRP can demonstrate irreplaceable utility amid structural shifts driven by stablecoins, transcending its identity as a volatile asset and securing a durable role within the evolving financial infrastructure.