Brad Garlinghouse Has Consistently Promoted the Use and Relevance of XRP

Brad Garlinghouse, who assumed the role of Ripple CEO in 2016 after joining the company as Chief Operating Officer a year earlier, has consistently promoted the use and relevance of XRP.

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, has been a vocal supporter of XRP throughout his tenure at the company, which began in 2015.

Garlinghouse, who took over as CEO in 2016 after serving as COO, has regularly discussed the token’s strength, particularly in cross-border transactions, at various conferences and interviews.

A community account, XRP Investing, recently compiled some of Garlinghouse’s most notable remarks concerning the token. These statements, spanning several years, reflect his long-standing commitment to advancing the digital asset’s utility and value.

Early on in his role at Ripple, Garlinghouse highlighted XRP’s unique properties. At an early Ripple Swell conference, he explained that the asset was specifically designed to efficiently handle large-scale international payments, setting it apart from many other digital assets that lack similar utility.

In a 2018 appearance at the Yahoo Finance Summit, Garlinghouse linked Ripple’s growing involvement in solving global payment issues with the increasing relevance of XRP. He suggested that the firm’s expansion into cross-border financial services would increase demand for the asset in multi-trillion-dollar markets.

Later that same year, during a Ripple Swell interview with Cheddar, Garlinghouse underscored XRP’s superior transaction speed and cost efficiency. According to him, the asset processes transactions significantly faster and at a lower cost than Bitcoin, making it more practical for real-time use.

Garlinghouse has also addressed XRP’s regulatory and structural status. In August 2019, discussing a class action lawsuit against Ripple in 2018, he expressed confidence that XRP does not qualify as a security. He referenced regulatory opinions from jurisdictions like the United Kingdom to support this stance.

He has also emphasized the token’s operational independence from Ripple. In a 2017 interview with Fortune Magazine’s The Ledger, Garlinghouse stated that XRP could continue functioning without Ripple’s involvement, attributing this to the asset’s decentralized nature.

In a 2018 Stanford Legal Podcast, Garlinghouse shared the story of XRP’s creation, explaining how early Bitcoin contributors developed it to address Bitcoin’s scalability and energy consumption issues.

According to him, XRP was built from the ground up to be a more efficient digital currency.

Garlinghouse has not shied away from discussing Ripple’s business model. In a 2020 interview with the Financial Times, he acknowledged that the company’s profitability and positive cash flow have partly depended on sales of its XRP holdings. Currently, Ripple holds over 41 billion XRP, which is valued at approximately $82 billion.

More recently, in October 2024, Garlinghouse expressed optimism about XRP’s future inclusion in exchange-traded fund (ETF) offerings during an interview with Bloomberg, highlighting the token’s growing legitimacy.

In January 2025, amid broader discussions around digital assets suitable for a potential U.S. crypto reserve, Garlinghouse disclosed that he holds XRP, Bitcoin, and Ethereum. He advocated for a diversified reserve model that does not rely on a single cryptocurrency.

Over the past decade, Brad Garlinghouse has passionately discussed XRP, highlighting its potential to revolutionize financial systems. His leadership has helped shape XRP’s global narrative and Ripple’s strategic direction.