Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, pushed back on the idea that he is an “XRP maxi” during a CoinDesk interview at Consensus 2026, telling the audience that crypto’s future will not be defined by a single dominant blockchain. His comments came during a broader discussion about the XRP community, Ripple’s role in supporting the XRP ecosystem, institutional adoption, tokenization, artificial intelligence, and U.S. crypto regulation.
Garlinghouse Rejects the XRP Maxi Label in Interview
Garlinghouse made the remark after being asked about the strength of the XRP community, often referred to online as the “XRP army.” He framed that community as part of a broader feature of crypto: users and builders organizing around networks they believe can improve financial infrastructure. At the same time, he cautioned that excessive tribalism can be counterproductive for the industry.
“On the topic of the XRP army, look, one of the greatest things about crypto in general is the community behind it. The people who see the opportunity for rewiring financial infrastructure, using technologies that reduce cost and improve speed. Like these are unlocks like the XRP army has been an unbelievable supportive group allies,” Garlinghouse said.
He then drew a clear distinction between supporting XRP and identifying as a maximalist. “I have also said to that community and to the entire crypto community, tribalism is bad for our industry. I’ve never been an XRP maxi. And people who are out there kind of just it’s not going to be a one chain world,” he said.
Garlinghouse’s comments are notable because Ripple remains closely associated with XRP, both through its historical role in the ecosystem and through its business efforts around payments and liquidity. In the interview, he said Ripple has “always been the most interested advocate in the XRP ecosystem,” while also emphasizing that advocacy does not equal control over the network.
“Ripple has always been the most interested advocate in the XRP ecosystem. We own a ton of XRP that doesn’t give us control of XRP. We’re not proof of stake in how that architecture works,” Garlinghouse said.
He connected Ripple’s acquisitions and product development to the company’s stated goal of increasing XRP’s utility. The CEO said Ripple’s work is aimed at improving adoption, liquidity and trust around XRP, rather than treating the asset as the only viable blockchain-based system.
“All the acquisitions we’ve made, all the building we’re doing is in service of how do we accelerate the adoption, the usefulness of XRP, the liquidity of XRP and the trust of XRP,” Garlinghouse said.
Ripple CEO Says Crypto Will Be Multi-Chain
Garlinghouse said he expects the crypto market to develop across multiple networks, rather than consolidate around one chain. He also expressed support for Bitcoin’s success, while highlighting activity in the XRP ecosystem, including his recent attendance at XRP Las Vegas.
“It’s going to be a multi-chain world. I want to see Bitcoin be successful. I love what’s going on in the XRP ecosystem,” he said.
He added that XRP community activity appeared especially strong at the Las Vegas event. “I was in Vegas last week at XRP Las Vegas, and it was the most vibrant, the most active that that community has ever been. It was really spectacular,” Garlinghouse said.
The comments came during a wide-ranging interview in which Garlinghouse also discussed institutional adoption and tokenization. He said the market felt like a “magical moment” as traditional finance firms showed greater interest in crypto infrastructure, and he pointed to Ripple’s own acquisitions, including Hidden Road, as part of its push to make XRP useful as collateral across institutional platforms.
Garlinghouse also addressed broader market conditions, noting that Bitcoin was trading above $80,000 during the conversation. He argued that the industry cannot rely only on speculative trading as its core use case, saying companies heavily tied to consumer speculation are more exposed when market conditions weaken.
“I have said for, I don’t know, maybe a decade, we can’t just focus on speculation as a use case for crypto. And what I think you’re seeing is, okay, yeah, we’re in a relatively speaking bear market. And so, you know, Coinbase is very reactive to what’s going on,” he said.
The Ripple CEO also discussed U.S. crypto regulation, saying he remained optimistic about progress in Congress before the midterms. He cited recent movement around Senate discussions and said that, if legislation advances out of committee, he believes bipartisan support on the Senate floor is likely.
“I have been pretty optimistic throughout. Sometimes difficult, my own concern about like, is this going to happen? I think we have seen a lot of I don’t think people can, it’s been a big positive shift in the last week,” Garlinghouse said.
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AI Transparency Note: This article was prepared with the assistance of an AI system based on the sources listed and was reviewed, edited, and approved by a human editor before publication. All quotes, data points, and factual claims are intended to be grounded in the cited source material; however, errors cannot be ruled out entirely.
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