Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said that the cryptocurrency sector in the US will no longer return to the old, hostile regulatory climate.
Speaking at the DC Fintech Week event in Washington, D.C., Garlinghouse said, “Frankly, the ship has sailed. The genie can no longer be put back in the bottle in the United States.”
Garlinghouse's remarks come as crypto regulatory debates are revving up. Former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler took a hard line against crypto during the Biden administration, filing lawsuits against several major crypto companies.
The SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple in 2020, alleging that its $1.3 billion sale of XRP constituted an unregistered security sale. New York Judge Analisa Torres ruled that while some XRP sales were not illegal, direct sales to institutional investors did qualify as securities. The case was officially settled this year.
Garlinghouse argued that the sector will not return to such uncertainties in the new era. Recalling current US President Donald Trump's campaign promise to “make the US the crypto capital of the world,” Garlinghouse also noted Trump and his family's involvement in the DeFi and stablecoin project World Liberty Financial, as well as the memecoins launched during his term.
On the legislative front, work on crypto regulations continues in the US Congress. The House of Representatives passed the regulatory bill by a vote of 294-134 this summer. In the Senate version of the bill, Republicans aim to clarify the division of authority between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and define which crypto assets are not considered securities by defining the concept of “ancillary assets.”
However, a proposal introduced by Senate Democrats last week, which aims to “restrict decentralized finance (DeFi) against illicit activities,” has been met with criticism from the industry and Republicans.
Despite all this controversy, Garlinghouse remains optimistic about the process:
“The industry needs what Ripple achieved: clarity. We won that clarity with a $150 million lawsuit and a federal judge's decision. But the entire industry deserves that clarity, and we will continue to fight for it.”