Ripple Chief Executive Brad Garlinghouse has made the clearest case yet for why the CLARITY Act matters to the entire crypto industry, even as he acknowledged that Ripple itself already has the legal certainty most digital asset companies are still fighting for.
XRP Already Has Clarity. The Industry Does Not.
Speaking at an event, Garlinghouse was candid about Ripple’s unusual position in the current regulatory debate. After a four-year, $150 million legal battle against the SEC, a federal judge ruled definitively that XRP is not a security. That ruling gave Ripple something most crypto companies can only dream of: court-established legal certainty about the nature of its asset.
But Garlinghouse argued that Ripple’s individual legal victory is not enough for the broader industry to move forward.
“For the industry to really move forward in the United States, you need something like the CLARITY Act to make it clear about other digital assets not being securities,” he said.
Why Banks Are Still Sitting on the Sidelines
The reason, Garlinghouse explained, comes down to a concern he hears repeatedly from senior executives at investment banks and commercial banks across the United States. They are compelled by the technology. They are not compelled enough to act.
The specific worry is not today’s regulatory environment. It is tomorrow’s. Paul Atkins, the current SEC Chair, has been supportive of digital assets and has brought a level of credibility and consistency to the agency that the industry lacked under his predecessor. But banking executives are thinking beyond the current administration.
“There will be another Paul Atkins after Paul who we don’t know which side of this argument they’re going to fall on,” Garlinghouse said. “Codifying into law means you kind of can’t go back.”
That is the critical distinction between a favourable regulatory posture and actual legislation. One can be reversed by the next administration. The other cannot.
Clarity Is Better Than Chaos
Garlinghouse was equally direct about the internal debate within the crypto industry over the CLARITY Act itself. The bill, which cleared the Senate Banking Committee on May 14 with a 15 to 9 bipartisan vote, has faced resistance from some corners of the digital asset space over specific provisions around DeFi and ethics language.
“I think it’s time as an industry we kind of shut the hell up in terms of fighting against this bill and we say okay, it’s time to move. Call our local senator and get this done.”
The SEC Picked the Wrong Fight With Ripple
Garlinghouse also offered a pointed observation about the SEC’s strategic miscalculation in choosing Ripple as its primary enforcement target during the Gary Gensler era.
“One of the key strategic mistakes the SEC made was picking on Ripple because we were strong enough to stand up to them,” he said. Had the agency focused its enforcement resources on weaker players who would have capitulated without a fight, it would have built more favourable case law without the public defeat it ultimately suffered.
Instead, Ripple fought, spent $150 million, and won a decision that a federal judge wrote in black and white. That ruling now sits in the public record and has shaped the legal landscape for every digital asset company that followed.
