Brad Garlinghouse: Ripple once considered shutting down the company and distributing XRP to shareholders

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that after the SEC sued in 2020, he and co-founder Chris Larsen seriously considered shutting down the company and distributing their XRP holdings to shareholders. Garlinghouse mentioned that they chose to fight the SEC instead of closing the company, a decision that preserved hundreds of jobs but resulted in Ripple paying about $150 million in legal fees over four years.

Ripple ultimately won the case after a federal judge ruled that XRP itself is not a security. The case was settled last year after changes in SEC leadership, with the new leadership taking a more lenient stance on cryptocurrency.