Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse made it clear this week: the company isn't going public anytime soon, but when it does, XRP holders could see some benefit. Speaking alongside former Ripple CTO David Schwartz, Garlinghouse reiterated that Ripple remains the largest XRP holder and has a direct stake in the token's success. The comments come as XRP trades around $1.40, up more than 2% on the day.
Garlinghouse: No IPO on the horizon
Pushing back on speculation, Garlinghouse said Ripple has no immediate plans for an initial public offering. But he hinted that when the company eventually does list, “XRP investors could benefit” — though he didn't elaborate on how. For now, Ripple's focus is on building its cross-border payments business and fighting the SEC case that's dragged on for years.
Schwartz backs CLARITY Act, admits it's not perfect
David Schwartz, the architect of the XRP Ledger, threw his weight behind the CLARITY Act, a bill that aims to bring clear rules to digital assets. Schwartz acknowledged the legislation isn't perfect, but argued that the crypto industry needs regulatory certainty now — even if the bill has trade-offs. He pointed to Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson's concern that the CLARITY Act could treat new crypto projects as securities, potentially stifling innovation.
“Existing projects like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP should focus on improving their technology to compete,” Schwartz said, rather than relying on regulatory loopholes. He stressed that Ripple doesn’t want to block new entrants — just to make sure the rules are predictable.
The fine line between clarity and overregulation
Hoskinson's warning isn't baseless. Under the CLARITY Act's framework, newer cryptocurrencies launched without sufficient decentralization could be classified as securities, triggering SEC registration requirements. That's a risk for projects that haven't yet built a broad user base or distributed their tokens widely. But Schwartz argued that waiting for a perfect law means waiting forever — and the current legal vacuum hurts everyone, including incumbents like XRP.
The back-and-forth underscores a central tension in Washington: how to write rules that protect investors without freezing out innovation. Ripple, which has already spent tens of millions fighting the SEC, clearly wants a framework that locks in the status of tokens like XRP as non-securities. Whether the CLARITY Act delivers that — or just creates new headaches — is still an open question.
XRP price ticks up
Markets took the news in stride. XRP's 2% gain on the day was modest, but the token has held above $1.40 for most of the session. The bigger test will come if the CLARITY Act gains momentum in Congress — or if the SEC decides to appeal parts of its case against Ripple. For now, Garlinghouse and Schwartz are making the rounds, making the case for a bill they say is imperfect but necessary.
