Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said passage of the CLARITY Act would be positive for the crypto sector, and he made clear that Ripple has been actively supporting the bill. At the same time, he drew a sharp line between Ripple’s stance on the legislation and XRP’s own position, saying that XRP already has clarity. In his framing, Ripple is not pushing for the bill because it needs a fix for XRP, but because the broader US crypto market needs a stronger legal foundation.
Garlinghouse said it would benefit Ripple if the United States, the world’s largest economy, embraces crypto in a way that is genuinely helpful. His point, though, was broader than Ripple alone. He argued that a healthier US regulatory setup would support everyone operating in crypto, and that is why Ripple is backing the legislation.
Bank executives remain wary of shifting regulatory leadership
Garlinghouse said he keeps hearing the same concern from bank CEOs and senior financial executives: they are nervous. The issue is not XRP specifically. The issue is what happens when today’s regulatory leadership changes. Paul Atkins is at the SEC now, but agency guidance is not law, and guidance can be changed as soon as a new administration takes office.
He said large financial institutions, especially those that have already dealt with SEC penalties totaling billions of dollars, do not want to take unnecessary risks. That caution does not disappear simply because regulators appear friendlier at the moment. In Garlinghouse’s view, this is exactly where the CLARITY Act matters, because legislation can create permanence in a way guidance cannot.
The bill faces a narrow timetable in the Senate
On timing, Garlinghouse said the path is tight. The CLARITY Act needs to move through the Senate Banking Committee in the next few weeks. If that does not happen, he said, the realistic odds of passage drop sharply. He also pointed to the political calendar, saying that if the House changes hands in November, the legislative picture could shift quickly.
His assessment was blunt: either the bill gets out of committee in the coming weeks, or it is unlikely to move any time soon. For Ripple, the debate is not about whether XRP has clarity. For the wider US crypto market, it is about whether major financial institutions will commit more confidently when the rules are written into law rather than left to changing regulatory guidance.