Ripple was close to shutting down rather than fighting the US Securities and Exchange Commission, CEO 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 were seriously considering winding down Ripple and distributing its XRP holdings to shareholders. He described it as the easiest 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 over to shareholders on a pro rata basis and dissolved, effectively ending the matter by terminating the company.
But they chose to fight because the shutdown would have cost hundreds of jobs. “I’m glad in retrospect, but it wasn’t obvious at the time,” he said.
