Ripple has launched a new share buyback programme that could increase its valuation to about $50 billion, representing a roughly 20% jump from its previous funding round.
The blockchain payments company plans to repurchase up to $750 million in shares from investors and employees through a tender offer expected to run until April, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter.
Ripple last raised $500 million from investors including Citadel Securities and Fortress Investment Group in November at a $40 billion valuation.
The company develops blockchain infrastructure for payments and financial services and is expanding its platform to give institutions access to fiat currencies, cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and digital asset custody.
Ripple says its payment network has processed more than $100 billion in transactions across more than 60 markets and 51 real-time financial rails.
The firm also created the XRP Ledger, a blockchain network whose native token XRP is the world’s fifth-largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalisation of about $84.5 billion.
Despite the buyback news, XRP showed little reaction in the market and was trading near $1.38 at the time of reporting while Ripple’s dollar-pegged stablecoin RLUSD held a market value of about $1.5 billion.
At the time of reporting, XRP price was $1.41.