XRP has fallen from recent highs, as the broader crypto market faces heavy selling pressure. Bitcoin is down sharply from its peak, and several major tokens have dropped.
But Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse says short-term price swings do not change the bigger picture.
he pointed to regulatory uncertainty and shifting market sentiment as key reasons behind the pullback. “One of the things we’re talking about right now is the lack of clarity,” he said, referring to stalled regulatory progress earlier this year. According to him, when that clarity “got pushed or stalled in late January, that did not help.”
Still, he said that Ripple had “a tremendous year in 2025” and entered 2026 from a position of strength.
XRP’s Drop vs. Long-Term Outlook
Despite the correction, the CEO described XRP as “the best performing major crypto,” even after the 20% decline. He argued that real-world use cases will matter more than short-term volatility.
“The more we demonstrate real practical utility using technologies to solve real problems, the more you see that play out in a positive way,” he said.
Ripple’s focus remains on cross-border payments, stablecoins, liquidity services, and helping financial institutions operate more efficiently. The company is seeing growing interest from CFOs, corporate treasurers, and prime brokerage services looking for faster, 24/7 payment systems.
Stablecoins, he added, are becoming a starting point for many institutions exploring blockchain-based finance.
$3 Billion in Acquisitions Since 2023
Ripple has been aggressive in expanding its footprint. Since 2023, the company has spent roughly $3 billion on acquisitions, moving deeper into custody, treasury management, and prime brokerage services.
One key acquisition was a treasury management firm, now branded as Ripple Treasury. That platform processed $13 trillion in payments last year, yet none of those flows were crypto-enabled.
The CEO sees that as an opportunity.
He said hat more than 1,000 corporate customers use the platform, and many are now asking how blockchain technology can unlock capital that is “trapped overseas” and make payment systems more efficient.
Ripple’s strategy, he explained, is about building bridges between traditional finance and crypto.
“We’ve been focused on how do we build bridges between what we call traditional finance and decentralized or crypto core,” he said.
