Usually, when people are at a crossroads, it means they are in some sort of trouble. In this case, though, Uphold is living a large life. The popular digital trading platform, currently valued at $1.5 billion, now has a choice to continue to finance its operations. Uphold CEO Simon McLoughlin doesn’t seem to have upheld any decisions so far, although he has a specific audience in mind.

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Nothing has been officially announced yet, but rumor has it that Uphold has brought in FT partners to help them explore what they call “strategic options.” These options include a possible IPO event in the United States or selling to a different company. As it stands, no final step has been taken. 

McLoughlin, however, seems confident that the company is in a good place. In an interview, he stated:

"We're currently being courted by a number of banks, brokers, financial institutions, and payment firms."

Maybe it sounds a little brag-ish, but that statement means Uphold may be seriously considering a sale. The company is allegedly worth $1.5 billion, so why not?

Sell XRP Or Keep - What Is Uphold's Best Move?

As lucrative as a sale of the company may seem at the moment, we may not want to jump to conclusions just yet. McLoughlin only recently took a trip to Vegas, where he promoted initiatives specifically targeted at U.S. consumers with a thing for XRP.  At the event, the Uphold CEO also mentioned that it is already exploring ways of “unlocking yield” on XRP while launching a debit card that gives its users an XRP bonus. 

Could this signal that he would rather keep the company and run things by himself? No one knows yet, but the XRP community is big-timers in crypto at the moment, so his interest in the asset makes sense. XRP has somehow gone from never-ending policing from the SEC to becoming one of the hottest crypto assets in 2025. The digital asset surged more than 360% in November 2024 alone and seems to be on a good track. An IPO would not be a bad idea, especially now that IPOs are trending again. Just last week, Circle, the company behind the USDC coin, successfully raised about $1.05 billion in what has been described as “one of the most anticipated IPOs of the year.” Uphold could kick off right off the heels of that Circle performance if it goes the IPO way. 

But at the moment, McLoughlin and Uphold don’t seem to be in a rush to decide. According to McLoughlin, "Our company is growing very, very quickly." Still, on a cryptic note, he added that there are "a lot of combinations and mergers happening in the industry now." Does that mean he’s more into a sale or a possible merger? Only McLoughlin knows, but one thing is certain: the world is Uphold’s oyster for now. 

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