Ripple Nearly Shut Down in 2020, Now Chases a Bank Charter

Ripple came within a boardroom vote of dissolving itself in 2020. Five and a half years later, XRP sits on the jerseys of a major college sports program and Ripple is waiting on federal regulators to decide whether it becomes a chartered bank.

Both facts came out of the same week. Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s chief executive, told an audience at the University of Kansas School of Business that his company seriously discussed shutting down entirely when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued it in December 2020. Days earlier, at that same school, XRP had become the first cryptocurrency ever stitched onto the jersey of a major college athletics program. The patch is the part everyone photographed. The bank charter application sitting in Washington is the part with actual stakes.

The Plan to Make XRP Disappear

The SEC’s lawsuit accused Ripple of selling XRP as an unregistered security. Within days, major U.S. exchanges delisted the token, its price collapsed, and some holders were told to sell before it hit zero.

Behind closed doors, Garlinghouse and Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen weighed a different response: wind the company down, distribute its XRP holdings to shareholders, and tell the SEC there was nothing left to sue over.

We almost decided to shut down the company when the SEC sued us.

Garlinghouse said that at the University of Kansas, describing an agency he called capable of “infinite power and resources.” He and Larsen ultimately chose to fight instead, a decision Garlinghouse has since tied to protecting the jobs of hundreds of employees who would have been let go in a shutdown.

A Kansas Homecoming Becomes a Sponsorship First

Garlinghouse’s speech landed at his own alma mater days after Kansas Athletics announced a multi-year partnership making XRP the first cryptocurrency ever integrated into a major college program’s jerseys, according to the university’s own announcement of the deal.

The patch covers every Kansas Athletics team, not just football or basketball. It appears on baseball, golf and every other Jayhawks uniform, brokered through sports marketing firm Learfield and its campus arm, Jayhawk Sports Properties. Ripple is also funding financial and technology education programs for student-athletes and the wider campus, covering both traditional finance and digital assets.

Ripple builds payment software used by banks, not retail customers directly, and the company has pitched XRP as a settlement tool that clears in about four seconds for a fraction of a cent. That pitch is now stitched onto a Big 12 uniform.

Kansas Coaches and Administrators Weigh In

Kansas officials framed the deal as more than a logo placement. Reaction from the athletic department ran through several voices in the days after the announcement.

• Travis Goff, KU athletic director – called it evidence that “this era of college athletics demands innovative, forward-thinking partnerships,” and said Ripple chose Kansas as a platform to introduce XRP to millions of sports fans.
• Lance Leipold, football head coach – said his program is “excited” to wear the XRP logo, noting that Garlinghouse is a fellow Jayhawk.
• Bill Self, men’s basketball head coach – described the partnership as a moment to be bold in a rapidly changing college sports landscape.
• Brandon Schneider, women’s basketball head coach – said the deal fits the athletic department’s broader push to modernize its sponsorship model.

None of the parties disclosed the financial terms of the sponsorship. That detail sits in contrast to how specific Ripple has been about what the legal fight beforehand actually cost.

Four Years, $150 Million, One Ruling

Garlinghouse has put Ripple’s total legal spending at roughly $150 million across four years of litigation. The SEC, at one point, offered to drop its personal case against him individually in exchange for a fine, while continuing to pursue the company. He turned that down.

US District Judge Analisa Torres’s finding that XRP itself isn’t a security became the case’s lasting legacy, even though institutional sales still carried a penalty. XRP jumped sharply within a day of that 2023 ruling, a reminder of how tightly the token’s price has tracked regulatory headlines ever since, a pattern that showed up again when XRP retested dollar support a year after the settlement.

What Would a Ripple Bank Charter Actually Do?

A Ripple-owned bank would let the company hold reserves and settle payments through the same federal system JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Bank of America already use, rather than routing everything through partner banks. It would not take retail deposits or make consumer loans. It’s a trust charter, not a commercial one.

In December 2025, Ripple received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to charter Ripple National Trust Bank. The OCC’s broader rule governing what national trust banks can do took effect in April 2026. The piece still missing is a Federal Reserve master account, which would give Ripple direct access to Fedwire and the central bank’s own payment rails rather than approval through an intermediary bank.

• What we know: Ripple holds conditional OCC approval for a national trust bank charter; the OCC’s final rule on trust bank activity is already in effect; the Kansas jersey deal is signed and running across every Jayhawks team.
• What’s unconfirmed: whether or when the Federal Reserve approves Ripple’s master account application; the financial terms of the Kansas sponsorship; the exact scope of activities Ripple National Trust Bank would be permitted once fully chartered.

If the Fed account comes through, Ripple would become the first crypto-native company with a genuine path to full banking integration in the United States, a regulatory outcome that would have been unthinkable while the SEC case was still open.

The Market Isn’t Pricing a Big Move

XRP traded near $1.06 around the time the Kansas deal was announced in early July, well off the $1.42 to $1.52 range it touched in mid-May when the Senate’s crypto market structure bill moved through committee, a rally that lined up with a broader wave of institutional interest, including the period when XRP ETFs pulled in $81.59 million during April.

Traders don’t appear to be betting on a repeat of that swing. Even with a bank charter decision still pending at the Federal Reserve, prediction markets are pricing a penny-wide range for XRP rather than the kind of move that followed the 2023 court ruling. The jersey is already sewn on. The Fed’s answer isn’t in yet.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Cryptocurrency prices are volatile and regulatory outcomes described here, including Ripple’s pending Federal Reserve application, remain unresolved as of publication; consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.