Ripple commits to buying back $285M worth of shares

Ripple plans to buy back $285 million of its shares, putting the company at a valuation of $11 billion.

Reuters first reported the news, citing unnamed sources. 

Ripple, when reached for comment, confirmed the buyback to Blockworks. 

“We are committing $500 [million] of cash from the balance sheet to convert RSUs and buy back shares – purchasing up to $285 [million] of equity and committing over $200 [million] to convert RSUs. This is at an equity valuation of over $11 [billion],” a Ripple spokesperson told Blockworks.

An RSU is a restricted stock unit.

Read more: XRP threatens to flip Binance’s cryptocurrency once and for all

CEO Brad Garlinghouse told Reuters that Ripple holds $1 billion in cash and $25 billion of crypto on its balance sheet. The crypto holdings are mostly XRP.

The news comes after the company was handed a partial win in the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against the company last year. 

A judge ruled that programmatic sales of the XRP token are not considered securities. However, the judge also ruled that the institutional sales did constitute securities offerings. 

The SEC then sought an interlocutory appeal at the end of last year, but was denied the request to seek such an appeal in October.

Last fall, the SEC dismissed charges against Garlinghouse and former Ripple executive Christian Larsen. The two faced charges of aiding and abetting securities laws violations in regards to sales of XRP.

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