Every year, the billionaires of the world go to a tiny Swiss ski resort of 11,000 people to lord it over the commoners, making proclamations of what they wish they would have done with their lives before they choose to put profit over people way back in the day. Normally I don't pay any attention to the rich people in Davos. But with their discussion of CBDC's and Ripple's paid-for interview to publicly tease their own IPO, my ears are perking up a bit this year.
Zug, otherwise known as Crypto Valley, is a short one-and-a-half hour drive from Davos. So it makes complete sense that the talks there would eventually morph such that now "Crypto Davos" is actually now a thing.
Yesterday, while most of the world was caught up with talks between the Monetary Elite and marches held by Greta Thunberg at the end of the World Economic Forum, the #3 coin in our little cryptoverse was busy hinting at a significant event. Yes, despite the vitriol that is often directed at XRP, it still enjoys nearly a $10 billion market cap and a firm lead in terms of valuation versus Bitcoin's Three Forks (BCH, BSV, LTC). In light of Ripple's announcement last month about its $200 million Series C funding, one would think that equity sales would be off the table for quite a while, especially with the nifty little trick that Ripple has found to fund development by selling tranches of its XRP utility token on liquid crypto markets.
Ripple bulls will argue that selling equity will almost eliminate the need for the company itself to sell XRP tokens in this manner. Ripple bears will argue that selling equity proves that the XRP token itself is valueless.
I'm not sure which side of the camp I fall into, but it doesn't matter. I don't own any XRP (or Ripple equity) but I do know that crypto pundits need to pay special attention to what Ripple, and by extension the formidable XRP Army, are doing.
The big takeaway for me lies in a quote from the promotional interview made by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse:
“In the next 12 months, you’ll see IPOs in the crypto/blockchain space. We’re not going to be the first and we’re not going to be the last, but I expect us to be on the leading side… it’s a natural evolution for our company.”
After the disappointment of UBER and the unmitigated disaster of WeWork has severely dampened investor enthusiasm for going public, the stock market is surely in need of a shot in the arm if it is going to keep this unprecedented rally going. Note:
And yet, Ripple was able to raise $200 million amidst this precipitous decline in VC funding. To me, that action signals that we could be seeing a blockchain IPO wave in the near future. Garlinghouse's signaling of his intentions to publicly float Ripple would seem to confirm this notion.
For years, the only real option for traders that want to trade blockchain equity was Overstock. Compared to the size of a potential Ripple IPO, OSTK's $300 million market cap is miniscule. Sure, there is the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), but the premium you pay is atrocious and your exposure is just to bitcoin, not equity in a blockchain company. Buying Square (SQ), via its rapidly growing Cash app, which allows you to purchase BTC, gives investors some exposure to the blockchain industry. But it's not a pure-play blockchain ticker like what you would have with a Ripple IPO.
In my opinion, it’s pretty obvious that Ripple is the #1 option when it comes to thinking about blockchain IPOs. I mean, it's the #3 coin and the top 2 are "decentralized" utility tokens essentially. But what would be other great blockchain IPOs is not so obvious. In December, the Neufund platform did what amounts to a pink-sheet raise but I think it's too small to count. Given the freeze-up in the VC markets after WeWork's failure, there is a ton of investment capital with mandates to invest in private and pre-IPO companies just sitting on the sidelines.
Other top names that I think could IPO if such a blockchain equity mania comes to pass would be Coinbase, Consensys, Block.one and maybe even Binance if they can clean up their corporate structure.
One thing is for certain. If markets continue to stay frothy with ~0% interest rates all over the world, there is going to be a lot of demand for blockchain equity investment products.
Ripple is just the tip of the iceberg.
Posted via Steemleo
