Who owns Ripple?

Ripple is owned by its shareholders, a mix of founders, current and former employees, and venture and institutional investors. Because Ripple is a private company, it does not publish a full list of who holds its shares or how large each stake is. The question often gets mixed up with who owns XRP, which is a separate matter.

Who founded Ripple?

According to the XRP Ledger's official history, David Schwartz, Jed McCaleb and Arthur Britto began building the ledger in 2011, and it went live in June 2012. The company followed in September 2012 under the name NewCoin, was quickly renamed OpenCoin, and became Ripple Labs in 2013.

Chris Larsen was the first CEO, McCaleb was co-founder and CTO, Schwartz served as chief cryptography officer and Britto was an advisor. CoinDesk lists Larsen, McCaleb and Britto as the company's founders. Brad Garlinghouse is CEO as of November 2026.

Who owns Ripple Labs today?

Ripple's early backers included Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures and Accenture, according to CoinDesk. In November 2025 Ripple announced a $500 million investment in new common equity at a $40 billion valuation. The round was led by funds tied to Fortress Investment Group and Citadel Securities, with Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, Brevan Howard and Marshall Wace also taking part.

Ripple has also been buying back its own stock. Its November 2025 release said it had repurchased more than 25% of its outstanding shares in recent years and had completed a $1 billion tender offer. In March 2026 Cointelegraph, citing Bloomberg, reported a further tender offer of up to $750 million, buying shares from investors and employees at a $50 billion valuation. Buybacks like these shift ownership toward the remaining holders, but the exact split is not public.

Does Ripple own XRP?

Ripple owns a lot of XRP, not XRP as such. The founders gave the company 80 billion XRP, which XRPL.org describes as 80% of the supply, and Ripple later locked most of it in escrow. How those escrows release coins is covered in what is the XRP escrow.

The XRP Ledger is open-source software run by independent validators, and Ripple is one participant among many. The difference between the company, the coin and the network is set out in XRP vs Ripple.

Is Ripple a public company?

No. Ripple has no listed stock, so there are no Ripple shares to buy on a stock exchange. Its private shares do change hands on secondary platforms such as Forge Global, which Cointelegraph cited when reporting on the 2026 buyback, but these are not public markets.

In November 2025, Ripple president Monica Long told Bloomberg the company had no plans or timeline for an IPO, saying it was well capitalized. Cointelegraph reported in March 2026 that this was still the company's stated position. Ripple's legal history, which shaped much of the speculation, is in what happened in the Ripple SEC lawsuit.

Ownership details for private companies can change without public notice, so treat any reported stake as a snapshot.