Nik Bougalis Leaves Ripple after Almost 10 Years

Nik Bougalis, a Director of Engineering who served the cryptocurrency company, Ripple Labs for almost 10 years, announced last weekend he is leaving the firm and the blockchain industry. He did not reveal his new employer's name but clarified that the new position would not be crypto-related.

Bougalis was responsible for many of Ripple's projects. One of the latest was on the XLS-20 amendment, which ensures the implementation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into the XRP Ledger system XRPL). He believes the system 'will be just fine' without him, due to the talented team.

"My decade-long journey at Ripple has been a fantastic (if exhausting and all-consuming) one. I got to work on a project that I love, towards a goal I believe in. But, that journey will be coming to an end in a few weeks," Bougalis wrote in a tweet.

“All good things…”My decade-long journey at @Ripple has been a fantastic (if exhausting and all-consuming) one.I got to work on a project that I love, towards a goal I believe in.But that journey will be coming to an end in a few weeks.🧵

According to Bougalis' personal website, he worked on several open-source projects, starting in 2009, while the adventure with Ripple began almost a decade ago. Looking at the fact that the cryptocurrency firm started its operations in 2012, the Director of Engineering worked with the company almost from the beginning.

"Leaving Ripple wasn't an easy decision, but it is the right one for me. As for what's next? I'll talk about it when it's time, but I am NOT joining another blockchain project/company, nor am I doing NFTs or DeFi," he added.

Ripple Wants to Talk about IPO

The cryptocurrency company is still fighting its long-running legal battle against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The commission states that unlike Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH) Ripple's native token XRP should not be treated as a commodity but as a security. XRP should be subject to the same regulations as other securities.

Although the legal battle can last for many more years, Ripple revealed recently it is planning to explore the initial public offering (IPO) opportunities when it ends.

"But, you know, we certainly are at a point, where that (IPO) is a possibility. And, we'll look at that once we're past this lawsuit with the SEC," the CEO of Ripple said during the Davos World Economic Forum.

In July, the blockchain and crypto solutions provider announced its newest partnership with Fomo Pay, a Singapore-based payments institution. Thanks to collaboration, Fomo Pay can use Ripple's crypto-enabled technology and boost its treasury flows.