Said he abandoned XRP...Ripple CEO directly refutes claims of departure

▲ Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple (XRP)/Source: Twitter

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, directly refuted some claims that Ripple is moving away from XRP. He emphasized that Ripple holds the largest amount of XRP globally and has the greatest vested interest in XRP's long-term success.

The Crypto Basic reported on May 9 that Garlinghouse denied the claims of Ripple's departure from XRP during an interview with journalist Eleanor Terrett at the XRP Las Vegas conference. Garlinghouse stated, "Ripple is still the entity holding the most XRP on the planet," and "We are the party that most desires XRP's success."

Garlinghouse described the situation where some doubt Ripple's commitment to XRP as "interesting and strange." He explained that Ripple's strategy is focused on enhancing XRP's utility, liquidity, and trust across the financial industry. He added that Ripple is pursuing a direction to make XRP the most useful digital asset even as it sells products and services to financial institutions and capital markets worldwide.

Concerns have also been raised recently that XRP might be pushed out of the center of Ripple's strategy as the company expands into stablecoin and treasury sectors. In response, Garlinghouse explained that while some of Ripple's business decisions may not appear directly connected to XRP immediately, they indirectly contribute to the XRP ecosystem in the long run. He stated that not all business decisions lead to a simple, linear path, but the ultimate goal is to expand XRP's liquidity, adoption, and trust.

Garlinghouse also mentioned that Ripple Treasury's business is aggressively expanding. He stated that Ripple ran XRP and Ripple Treasury advertisements across the Las Vegas Strip and deployed buses wrapped with Ripple Treasury ads for attendee transportation during a client conference held nearby by competitor Kyriba. He also revealed that Ripple's employee count has reached approximately 1,500, and 2026 is turning into a record-breaking year in several sectors.

A vision for the XRP Ledger was also presented. Garlinghouse believes that many future blockchain use cases, such as tokenization and bond settlement, can evolve independently of Ripple. He credited David Schwartz and early XRP Ledger developers with designing one of the first decentralized exchanges with built-in tokenization features more than a decade ago. He also said that it is inevitable for outdated and inefficient traditional financial systems, like bond settlement, to move on-chain over time. However, he emphasized that the future is likely to be a multi-chain structure, and Ripple can play a role in accelerating real blockchain adoption in areas where the XRP Ledger has strengths.

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