XRP Is Ripple's 'North Star' Amid Ambitions to Build $1 Trillion Firm, Says CEO

In brief

• Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse thinks crypto will have its own trillion-dollar company, and said Ripple could be one.
• The firm made major acquisitions last year and was recently valued at $40 billion following an investment round.
• Garlinghouse said that XRP remains Ripple’s “north star,” and its “reason for existence.”

Financial services firm Ripple could grow to a $1 trillion valuation in the future—at least, that’s what CEO Brad Garlinghouse thinks.  Talking to a group of XRP enthusiasts on the XRP Community Day via social media platform X, Garlinghouse said he’s convinced that a crypto firm will eventually eclipse the mark—a feat that’s only been achieved by a dozen of the world’s biggest companies, including Nvidia, Apple, and Google parent Alphabet. “There will be a trillion-dollar crypto company, I don’t doubt that for a second,” said Garlinghouse. “I think Ripple has the opportunity, if we do things well in partnership with the overall XRP ecosystem, to be that company.” 

“And maybe there will be more than one,” he added.  In November, the firm raised $500 million from financial giants like Citadel Securities and Fortress Investment Group, netting it a valuation of around $40 billion. It will need to jump 25x to reach the $1 trillion mark.  The Ripple frontman, who has been with the firm since 2015, told listeners to zoom out from the recent volatility and drawdowns that have seen XRP and leading crypto asset Bitcoin fall 33% and 26% respectively over the last month.  “We’ve got a long way to go, and I certainly don’t want to gloss over that,” said Garlinghouse of crypto’s rise since he joined Ripple. “But these are massive markets, and the opportunity to rewire, accelerate, and make the financial infrastructure more efficient is truly profound.”

The firm’s imprint became larger last year when it spent billions on acquisitions to enhance its offerings, most notably via its acquisitions of prime brokerage Hidden Road for $1.25 billion and treasury management firm GTreasury for $1 billion. The firm also spent $200 million on stablecoin firm Rail, and an undisclosed amount on wallet-as-a-service provider Palisade. But for Ripple this year, Garlinghouse said it’s more about “integration” than acquisitions, telling listeners not to expect any “big acquisitions,” though indicating in the second half of the year the firm may be “more inquisitive again.”  In addition to its focus on integration, Garlinghouse made it clear his firm’s purpose is tied to XRP, calling the token—which was created by Ripple’s founders and serves as the native cryptocurrency for the XRP Ledger network—the firm’s “north star.”  “Ripple’s reason for existence is driving success around XRP and the XRP ecosystem,” he said. “We will continue to build products and services that customers love and will pay for to make Ripple successful, but it’s in service of the overall XRP ecosystem.” XRP, which made a new all-time high of $3.56 last year, is down around 1.7% in the last 24 hours, recently changing hands at $1.38.