Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has broken his silence since mid-December 2025 with a significant New Year's statement, expressing strong confidence in the company's direction for 2026. He urged the XRP community to anticipate "bigger partnerships and acquisitions" in the coming year, describing 2025, especially the final quarter, as one of Ripple's strongest years yet.
The foundation for this optimism is a major regulatory victory. On Friday, January 9, Ripple officially secured approval for both an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license and Cryptoasset Registration from the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Garlinghouse signaled this is "only the beginning," stating that Ripple now holds "one of the most comprehensive licensing portfolios in the industry." This positions the company to capitalize on the rapidly growing global demand for regulated crypto infrastructure.
Garlinghouse emphasized that Ripple's strategy remains focused on long-term crypto utility and real-world use cases, deliberately avoiding short-term market hype cycles. He highlighted the company's 2025 acquisitions—Ripple Prime and GTreasury—as key moves that have significantly expanded Ripple's ability to deliver on its core vision of facilitating and improving access to cross-border payments for large institutions.
XRP and its associated stablecoin, RLUSD, remain central to this vision. Garlinghouse stressed that XRP plays a crucial role in building an "Internet of Value" and that Ripple is committed to continuing to develop real-world use cases for both assets as the company expands its global payments infrastructure.
