“Advancing the Offensive: The Path to Strengthening U.S. Leadership”

At DC Fintech 2025, Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse depicted the firm’s attitude post-litigation as boldly growth-oriented, asserting that US policy currents have transitioned from “formidable headwinds to quite significant tailwinds” and that the sector is nearer to lasting clarity than at any time since the SEC’s enforcement-driven methodology became prevalent.

Ripple Seeks US Crypto Dominance

“We’re going to maintain an offensive strategy,” he stated, outlining Ripple’s immediate focuses on payments, custody, and stablecoins while emphasizing an ambitious posture that now encompasses a $1.25 billion acquisition of the leading broker Hidden Road and a $200 million takeover of enterprise stablecoin provider Rail. He mentioned that further announcements are approaching: “We believe now is the right moment to invest.”

Garlinghouse placed that assurance in the political shift he perceives in Washington following Ripple’s courtroom triumph. He characterized the firm as “the forefront of the Biden administration’s initiative against crypto through the SEC,” but contended the battle enhanced Ripple’s reputation and sparked industry mobilization on Capitol Hill.

Highlighting the House’s passage of the Clarity Act with bipartisan backing, he remarked, “The Clarity Act advanced in the House with approximately 78 Democrats supporting a Republican bill, which I believe reflects the eagerness for these technologies to be accepted.” While he refrained from predicting Senate outcomes, he stressed that the momentum is bipartisan and technology-focused rather than ideological: “This discussion should never have been partisan. It’s akin to claiming one side is pro-email and the other is anti-email.”

The CEO’s most pointed remarks targeted the SEC’s former stance under Chair Gary Gensler, which he described as detrimental to innovation and consumer safety alike. Quoting the judge in Ripple’s matter, Garlinghouse stated, “A federal judge remarked about the Gensler SEC, ‘they are not adhering to a faithful commitment to the law.’ That’s quite damaging for a federal judge who was appointed by Obama.”

He added, “I certainly do not believe we’ll revert to that. Frankly, I believe that was a bleak period for technology in the United States,” arguing that regulation through enforcement pushed operations overseas “where ironically it’s less regulated and there are diminished consumer protections.”

Ripple Possesses a CEO, XRP Does Not

Garlinghouse consistently differentiated Ripple, a private enterprise that “secured venture funding and issued stock,” from XRP, “an open-source technology that essentially underlies our offerings.”

Addressing ongoing misunderstandings, he stated: “Individuals will assert things like, well, XRP has a CEO. And I’m like, who is it? Ripple has a CEO — that’s me. There are numerous, if not a hundred other CEOs working within the XRP ecosystem.”

He emphasized that Ripple does not dictate the XRP Ledger’s governing rules: “There have been modifications passed to the XRP open-source technology that we opposed — and they still succeeded. That’s acceptable. That’s open source technology,” underscoring that ledger amendments necessitate 80% community consensus.

Ripple’s Advocacy for a Fed Master Account

Regarding banking accessibility, Garlinghouse implored regulators and incumbents to align compliance expectations with equitable access to essential infrastructure. “Hold traditional finance accountable,” he declared. “Yes, the crypto sector should meet the same standards as AML, KYC, OFAC. Yes, yes, yes. And we should have equivalent access to infrastructure like a Fed master account. You can’t advocate one and then oppose the other. That’s insincere.”

He confirmed Ripple has sought a national bank charter and contended that granting master accounts to firms such as Circle and Ripple would “de-risk stablecoins,” provided they are “held to similar regulatory benchmarks as a bank.” He also mentioned Ripple initiated its stablecoin “under a New York trust license,” describing it as “the gold standard” for the institutional clientele the company aims for.

The practical limitation for cautious banks, he suggested, is the lack of fully established legislation, even as agency stances evolve. He pointed to recent bank-side engagement “around stablecoins for sure” and mentioned “the Genius Act obviously assisted,” while acknowledging some institutions still harbor concerns about policy reversals in future election cycles.

Nevertheless, he argued time is working in crypto’s favor and that whenever codification occurs, it will accelerate participation. “The longer it takes, the better I believe it is for the sector, hands down,” he asserted, adding that Ripple’s court clarity promptly stimulated development “in and around the XRP ecosystem.”

Garlinghouse framed the wider policy discussion as a contest for fintech supremacy. “The US embraced the Internet in the late 90s. We’ve leaned back in blockchain. It doesn’t make sense to me,” he noted, pointing out entrepreneurs already gravitate toward jurisdictions with clear regulations such as Europe’s MiCA or the UK’s framework.

He urged Congress to cease “regulation through enforcement” in favor of predictable frameworks so that “consumers are safeguarded” and companies “understand how to operate,” emphasizing that “the vast, vast, vast majority of entrepreneurs I know in crypto wish to comply with the rules.”

He also recounted the real outcomes of the previous policy climate, expressing that it was once “very, very challenging” for major banks to engage and that he himself had been “debanked by Citibank in the past four years.” The consequence, he argued, was a stalled US market while international clients proceeded forward, a dynamic he illustrated with a striking statistic: “One quick data point is 80 percent of Ripple’s hiring between 2001 and 2004 [sic] was non-US, because that’s where our customers were.”

Today, he asserts the “ship has sailed” regarding crypto’s permanence in the US financial ecosystem. “You can’t put the genie back in the bottle,” he remarked. “This wave is still approaching. And I don’t anticipate there’s anything the US federal government will do to halt that.”

At press time, XRP traded at $2.42.

Featured image from YouTube, chart from TradingView.com

Editorial Procedure for bitcoinist centers around delivering extensively researched, precise, and impartial content. We maintain stringent sourcing standards, and each page undergoes careful assessment by our team of leading technology experts and experienced editors. This procedure guarantees the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our audience.