Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse: "The era of crypto repression in America is over"

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse asserted that the crypto industry will not have to revert to a period of being constrained by a hostile regulatory environment — even with the changes at the White House.

Speaking at the DC Fintech Week conference, Garlinghouse emphasized that “the ship has sailed” and “you can't put the genie back in the bottle” — referring to the fact that crypto has become an irreversible part of the U.S. financial system.

Brad Garlinghouse## Don't go back to the era of Gary Gensler

Garlinghouse believes that the United States will not return to the period when Gary Gensler was at the helm of the (SEC). During that time, Gensler adopted a “regulation by enforcement” approach and sued numerous major cryptocurrency companies, claiming that most tokens are securities.

Under the Joe Biden administration, Gensler led the SEC and filed several major lawsuits, including against Ripple. The agency accused Ripple of raising $1.3 billion through the sale of XRP, which is considered an unregistered security. However, Judge Analisa Torres in New York ruled that XRP transactions on the secondary market do not violate securities laws, although some transactions directly with institutional investors are still regarded as securities.

This years-long lawsuit has finally come to an official close this year, helping Ripple achieve the “legal clarity” that Garlinghouse believes the entire industry needs.

Hypocritical “TradeFi”

Garlinghouse also criticized the traditional finance (TradFi) as “hypocritical” for blocking cryptocurrency companies from accessing the (master account) of the Federal Reserve (Fed). This account allows financial institutions to access the U.S. payment system and money supply directly.

“The crypto industry needs to adhere to similar standards for anti-money laundering (AML) and customer verification (KYC) as traditional finance,” he said. “And we also deserve access to that same infrastructure — such as a Fed master account. You can’t say 'equality' and then act the opposite way.”

Political Role and Legislative Prospects

Garlinghouse currently has a close relationship with the administration of President Donald Trump, who once declared that he would turn the U.S. into the “crypto capital of the planet.” The Trump family has also participated in various digital asset projects, including the DeFi platform and stablecoin World Liberty Financial, along with the issuance of memecoin in the early months of the administration.

Garlinghouse stated that he had dinner with President Trump earlier this year to discuss the direction of cryptocurrency policy.

Legally, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a framework bill for digital assets with 294 votes in favor, including support from some Democratic lawmakers. In the Senate, Republicans are pushing a bill to clearly delineate authority between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), while also introducing the concept of “ancillary assets (” to define cryptocurrencies that are not securities.

However, the prospects of passing this bill remain bleak after the Democratic faction in the Senate proposed measures to tighten DeFi activities to prevent illegal actions — a move that has been strongly opposed by both the Republican faction and the cryptocurrency community.

However, Garlinghouse still expressed optimism:

“What the industry needs is clarity — something that Ripple has achieved after a $150 million lawsuit and a ruling from the federal court,” he said. “We will continue to fight for the entire industry to have similar clarity.”

Thạch Sanh