Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has declared what he calls the defeat of the “anti‑crypto army,” crediting courts, voters — and President Donald Trump — for turning the tide against sustained regulatory pressure on digital assets.
Garlinghouse’s comments came as the SEC agreed to drop its appeal in the long‑running XRP litigation, ending more than four years of court battles. Under the settlement, Ripple will pay a $50 million civil penalty (down from $125 million originally discussed), and the agency is moving to lift an “obey the law” injunction that had shadowed the company. Garlinghouse called the SEC’s retreat “a historic victory—for Ripple, our employees and customers, and for the entire crypto industry,” pointing to Judge Analisa Torres’s 2023 finding that XRP “in and of itself was not a security” as a critical legal blow to the regulator’s theory.
That legal win coincided with a major political shift in Washington. After Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory, crypto‑aligned super PACs and donors touted their role in flipping key swing states, and industry advocates argued an emerging “crypto voter” bloc punished candidates who echoed Senator Elizabeth Warren’s so‑called “anti‑crypto army” rhetoric. Garlinghouse publicly thanked Trump as XRP rallied — the token was the top‑performing major cryptocurrency over a 90‑day stretch into early 2025 — and observers noted the price rebound followed both the November election and Ripple’s settlement, underscoring how tightly politics, enforcement and market moves are now linked.
But industry leaders say the real work is legislative. Republicans including Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno are pushing structural crypto bills, while the Trump administration is pressing Congress to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (the CLARITY Act) on an accelerated timeline. One widely circulated briefing reportedly set an informal March 1, 2026 deadline to line up votes. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has publicly called for clear federal rules to stabilize volatile markets and attract institutional capital. Closed‑door meetings with firms such as Ripple and Coinbase have reportedly left Garlinghouse estimating a 90% chance the CLARITY Act could pass by April — a move that would codify much of the recent court‑driven progress and lock in how assets like XRP are classified under U.S. securities law.
For XRP holders and industry backers, Garlinghouse’s triumphant framing reads as vindication — and a provocation. The past several years have shown that U.S. crypto policy is now a front‑line political issue that can sway court outcomes, elections and hundreds of billions in market value. Whether the current political momentum yields a durable, coherent regulatory framework or merely a new set of slogans remains uncertain, but Ripple and its allies are already shaping the narrative of a hard‑won industry comeback.
What to watch next: Congressional movement on the CLARITY Act, any formal vote timelines, and how the SEC responds to a potentially codified framework — factors that will determine whether the industry’s legal gains become permanent policy.
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