Ripple CEO Says XRP Utility Is Company’s ‘North Star’, Acquisitions Overperforming

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse laid out a sweeping vision for the company’s future during a Fox Business interview at a conference in Miami, touching on acquisition performance, the role of XRP as a ‘North Star’ within the company, the opportunity for stablecoins, and the regulatory path forward for the crypto industry in the United States.

XRP Utility Is Ripple’s ‘North Star’

Garlinghouse made it clear that XRP is the guiding principle behind its strategic moves. According to the Ripple CEO, improving the real-world use cases of XRP, trust, and utility are now the main factors as to how the company approaches product development and expansion. “That is our North Star of how we think about it all,” he said.

This utility outlook of XRP has been central to Ripple’s acquisitions, which, according to Garlinghouse, are all already exceeding expectations. Garlinghouse mentioned that both of Ripple’s major acquisitions from last year have surpassed the company’s internal projections. Ripple Treasury, formerly known as GTreasury, and Ripple Prime have each outperformed expectations, with the most notable example being Ripple Prime tripling its revenue since the acquisition.

Stablecoins And Regulation Could Decide Industry’s Next Phase

Garlinghouse pointed to Ripple Treasury as a concrete illustration of the market opportunity ahead. The platform, in its prior form as GTreasury, orchestrated $13 trillion in payments last year. However, 0% of these payments were conducted in crypto or stablecoins. That gap is one of the biggest opportunities in how the crypto industry moves forward. 

“That’s the opportunity,” Garlinghouse said.

Interestingly, he also elaborated on a future of how Ripple captures that opening by incorporating crypto payment rails directly into the dashboards corporate treasurers already use. He described a future where corporate treasurers and CFOs can choose between traditional payment rails that take days and cost more, or blockchain-based options that settle in minutes. That choice could be the important factor that brings crypto deeper into global finance.

Another important part of the discussion focused on crypto regulations in the United States, particularly the proposed CLARITY Act. Garlinghouse had previously expressed support for the CLARITY Act. He had even previously predicted that the legislature will be passed by US regulators by the end of April. 

However, the Ripple CEO is now pushing the projected timeline further. He revised his timeline by 30 days and is now expecting progress closer to the end of May but maintained that negotiations are ongoing and that all stakeholders are still engaged. All that needs to happen now is a compromise on this important issue around how rewards are managed.

According to Garlinghouse, passing clear regulatory guidelines for the crypto industry is important for keeping innovation and capital within the United States and for the US to be competitive on a global scale. Without clear regulatory guidelines, there is a risk that entrepreneurs and investments will continue moving offshore. 

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView