Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has spoken out for the first time following a high-profile cryptocurrency meeting at the White House and his participation in the inaugural CFTC Innovation Advisory Committee, which he referred to as “the Olympic rules of crypto.”
The White House gathering, organized by the Trump administration, brought together executives from major cryptocurrency companies including Ripple, Coinbase, and Gemini, alongside the chairmen of the SEC and CFTC. A primary agenda item was the CLARITY Act, a legislative proposal that passed the House of Representatives in July 2025 but subsequently stalled in the Senate over disagreements regarding ethics provisions, stablecoin rewards, and tokenized equities. President Trump has urged Congress to pass a fair version of the bill to maintain U.S. leadership relative to China.
Reflecting on the White House event alongside attendees such as CFTC official Mike Selig and SEC chair Paul Atkins, Garlinghouse emphasized that digital assets are no longer a fringe sector, noting that one in four Americans own them.
Following the White House gathering, Garlinghouse joined the CFTC Innovation Advisory Committee. He stated that participants from both the cryptocurrency and traditional finance sectors reached a unanimous conclusion: existing regulatory rules belong to a different era and are inadequate for the current market environment and business innovation.
Garlinghouse recalled an open letter from 2019 in which he initially urged U.S. authorities to establish clearer cryptocurrency regulations. Although the industry continues to await comprehensive legislation, he expressed optimism that the current administration, alongside congressional leaders and agency appointees, has placed the industry on the right track toward achieving regulatory clarity.
