Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse used an appearance at the XRPLV26 conference in Las Vegas on April 30 to firmly push back against growing doubts about the company's commitment to XRP, arguing that the firm remains economically and strategically tied to the asset even as it expands into stablecoins and institutional finance.
Speaking on stage, Garlinghouse emphasized that Ripple remains the largest holder of XRP globally. "Today, Ripple is still the largest holder of XRP on the planet. We are the most interested party in seeing XRP be successful. We will continue to be the most interested party in seeing XRP be successful," he said. He explained that Ripple holds approximately 33.35 billion XRP in escrow accounts, aligning the company's interests directly with XRP's price performance. At a current price of $1.37, the escrowed XRP is valued at about $45.6 billion, highlighting the company's massive financial exposure.
Addressing community concerns about the RLUSD stablecoin potentially replacing XRP in Ripple's product stack, Garlinghouse acknowledged the fears but stated they do not reflect the company's actual strategy. He explained that not all strategic steps are publicly disclosed for competitive reasons. "We're going to do things that may not at first blush make crystal clear sense," he said. "But I swear to you, even if it doesn't have a direct line from point A to point B, point B being good for XRP, it may be point A to point B to point C. It's all in service of how do we do things that expand, grow, and drive in liquidity, utility, and trust in XRP."
Garlinghouse framed the company's current strategy around making XRP "the most useful digital asset," "the most liquid digital asset," and "the most trusted digital asset." He linked this directly to Ripple's enterprise business, which includes services for financial institutions and capital markets under the Ripple Prime platform and Ripple Treasury. The company now employs around 1,500 people and is having a record year, with the CEO specifically pointing to tokenization, such as bond settlement, as a major growth area for the XRP Ledger.
On the regulatory front, Garlinghouse discussed the Clarity Act, warning that the legislative window is extremely narrow. He stated that if the bill does not move out of the Senate Banking Committee by the end of the third week of May, the industry could be "in real trouble." However, he was confident that XRP would remain unaffected regardless of the outcome, given its established legal clarity from the court ruling against the SEC. "XRP has clarity. XRP fought a very painful fight to get clarity. It's a big deal," he noted. He also confirmed that Ripple's conditional OCC trust charter approval is tied to the RLUSD stablecoin strategy and that obtaining a Federal Reserve master account is "very much on our radar."
