Despite turbulence in the crypto sector, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse sees a bright future on the horizon and anticipates a turning point in the company’s legal battle with the SEC.
As you may remember, on 22 December 2020, the SEC announced that it had “filed an action against Ripple Labs Inc. and two of its executives, who are also significant security holders, alleging that they raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered, ongoing digital asset securities offering.”
In a recent interview at the Dubai FinTech Summit, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse expressed his optimism about the future of the crypto industry and his company’s ongoing case with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Despite major setbacks in the crypto sector, such as the Terra Luna fiasco, the FTX meltdown, and banking issues in the United States, Garlinghouse is impressed by the industry’s resilience. “If you had told me that over the last year, you’re going to have these meltdowns, and yet Bitcoin would still be at roughly 27, 28, 30 thousand, I wouldn’t have believed you,” he said.
Garlinghouse sees cryptocurrencies as serving a valuable purpose and believes that as the industry focuses more on solving real problems and enhancing the utility of crypto, it will continue to thrive. He also noted that the destabilization of banking had been a significant crypto driver since its inception.
Reflecting on the Satoshi Nakamoto Bitcoin white paper, which emerged out of the 2008-2009 banking crisis, Garlinghouse pointed out that the continued angst around banking drives interest and adoption of crypto. He cited recent major bank failures in the U.S. as crises fueling interest in cryptocurrencies.
While it’s too early to predict the long-term impact on reserve currencies like the dollar, Garlinghouse believes that the changes over the next 10 to 20 years could be underestimated. He equated the unpredictable yet inevitable influence of blockchain and crypto to the internet’s transformative power.
Addressing the case against Ripple by the U.S. SEC, Garlinghouse expressed frustration over the protracted legal battle that began two and a half years ago. He sees a silver lining, though, in that Ripple’s journey through the process is nearing its end.
Garlinghouse anticipates a resolution in the next two to six months. “The judge in the United States has been fully briefed. She has a decision on her plate. A federal judge can operate on whatever timeline she would like, but I’m optimistic we’re going to see a resolution, I believe, before the end of Q3,” he concluded.
