Should Ripple prevail in its ongoing legal battle against the SEC, the payment processor will join the trend of crypto-related companies going public, said the CEO of SBI Group – one of the largest shareholders in the firm.  

• During an earnings presentation call, SBI Group’s CEO, Yoshitaka Kitao, spoke about the relationship between the entity he runs and the blockchain-based payment processor – Ripple. 
• As previously reported, Ripple has legal troubles in the US as the nation’s Securities and Exchange Commission alleged the firm behind the XRP token of conducting a $1.3 billion unregistered security sale. 
• While some of the US-based partners of Ripple have backed off, others, such as SBI Group, have shown support. Previously, the Japan-based conglomerate launched a crypto lending service platform and added XRP shortly after.
• Kitao reaffirmed his organization’s stance and outlined that the payment processor’s CEO – Brad Garlinghouse – and the chairman – Chris Larsen – still plan to proceed with going public: 

• “After the current lawsuit, Ripple will go public. The current CEO wants to do that.” 

• Garlinghouse has openly discussed the possibility of going public before, and he was especially favorable of the idea during Davos last year. At the time, the executive predicted that numerous crypto-related companies will head down this road.  

• “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.” – he commented. 

• It’s certain now that Ripple will indeed not be first as the cryptocurrency industry already saw one of its giants going public. 
• As reported before, the largest US-based digital asset exchange did so a few weeks ago through a direct listing on Nasdaq. Bakkt and Kraken also have similar plans.