In an interview with FOX Business, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse detailed the company’s ambitious plans for growth over the next three years, highlighted by the launch of a US dollar-backed stablecoin and a strategic expansion in international markets amidst ongoing regulatory challenges in the United States.
Ripple CEO Unveils 3-Year Growth Plan
When inquired about the company’s growth story for the next three years, Garlinghouse began by underscoring Ripple’s significant international presence, with approximately 95% of its customer base located outside the US. “95% of our customers are non US financial institutions,” he stated.
Furthermore, Garlinghouse explained that Ripple is selling payment solutions and custody solutions around blockchain and crypto. He emphasized the company’s core offerings and conveyed a strong commitment to further expansion.
“We’re going to keep expanding, even though the US market, as we were talking about earlier, partly from a regulatory point of view, has been slow to adopt, the non-US market has been really, really strong for us. And we’re going to be the infrastructure around all of that. That is our goal, and we think that opportunity is huge. We think that’s going to be great for Ripple,” Garlinghouse noted.
In addition to infrastructure, Ripple plans to enhance the utility of XRP, the digital asset central to its payment protocol. Garlinghouse expressed a positive outlook for XRP, linking its success to Ripple’s expansion and the broader adoption of its technologies. “We think that’s going to be great for Ripple. We think it’s going to be great for XRP,” he said, reinforcing the symbiotic relationship between Ripple’s growth and the adoption of its associated cryptocurrency.
Garlinghouse then delved into the specifics of the upcoming US dollar-backed stablecoin, a pivotal development in Ripple’s strategy to bridge traditional finance with the burgeoning sector of cryptocurrencies. He described the stablecoin as a response to the escalating demand within the stablecoin market, currently valued at $150 billion and potentially rising to over $2 trillion. “Ripple has always been about how do we bridge this new world with a traditional kind of, people call it TradFi, traditional finance,” he explained.
This stablecoin aims to provide a reliable and regulatory-compliant option in contrast to competitors like Tether, which is based outside of the US and faces different regulatory scrutiny. The initiative represents a strategic move to position Ripple as a leader in compliant, secure, and user-friendly crypto-finance solutions. “I think that market is going to grow a lot. I think a US-based player who is compliance first has a great role to play,” Garlinghouse added.
Regulatory Environment And Advocacy For Clear Guidelines
Garlinghouse also delved into the regulatory environment in the US, critiquing the slow pace of legislative progress which he believes hampers market growth. “Washington is still trying to understand this market,” he commented, expressing concern over potential legislation that might place undue barriers on the burgeoning crypto market.
He was particularly critical of the current administration and regulatory figures, stating, “This administration, I think, has taken a pretty anti-crypto stance led by the SEC Gary Gensler as the chair has really doesn’t understand it.” He also challenged the narrative put forth by certain politicians, like Senator Elizabeth Warren, who he quoted as saying, “The only people using crypto are bad actors.”
Garlinghouse concluded with a call to action for more informed, pro-innovation policies that align with fostering job creation and economic growth, reminiscent of the early days of the internet boom in Silicon Valley. “This is about leading the next wave of innovation,” he affirmed, urging US policymakers to embrace and facilitate the growth of blockchain and cryptocurrency through clear and supportive regulations. Via X, he added:
How pro-innovation policies in the US will prevail. Step 1 – replace the SEC leadership and step 2 – Elizabeth Warren’s staff should read some actual facts on crypto instead of spewing constant misinformation.
At press time, XRP traded at $0.486.
Featured image from CNBC, chart from TradingView.com