Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the crypto industry is “so close” to regulatory clarity in the U.S. and urged continued engagement with Washington as Senate talks over a market structure bill ran into delays. His comments came as lawmakers considered the CLARITY Act, a proposal aimed at setting clearer rules for digital assets.
Ripple backs Senate effort on market structure
Garlinghouse responded on X last week after Senate Banking Committee Republicans outlined the CLARITY Act. The proposal was described as the product of more than six months of bipartisan negotiations, with input from industry participants, legal and academic experts, and other stakeholders. Garlinghouse called the move long overdue but still a major step toward workable crypto rules while continuing to protect consumers. He said Ripple, and he personally, had seen firsthand that clarity is better than chaos, adding that the bill’s success would be a success for crypto.
He also said Ripple would stay engaged with lawmakers. In his words, the company is at the table and will continue pushing for fair debate, while he remains optimistic that outstanding issues can be resolved during the markup process.
Bill stalled after Coinbase withdrew support
The market structure bill stalled in the Senate on Jan. 15 after Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong abruptly pulled support, forcing the Banking Committee to postpone its markup. The dispute centers on a rewritten Senate draft that added a yield ban on stablecoin rewards and strict KYC requirements for DeFi front-ends.
According to the report, traditional banks heavily lobbied for the stablecoin provision to prevent deposit flight. Ripple has kept arguing that some clarity is better than the current uncertainty. Coinbase, by contrast, said the revised draft is materially worse than the status quo. Lawmakers now have a narrow window to reconcile the amendments dividing the industry before the 2026 midterm season begins.
Garlinghouse says the bill is imperfect but better than nothing
Additional remarks from Garlinghouse appeared in a video statement shared by CfC St. Moritz on Jan. 16, after the CLARITY Act was postponed and Coinbase withdrew support. Garlinghouse had spoken on a panel at the CfC St. Moritz conference on Jan. 15, 2026. In that video, he repeated that clarity is always better than chaos and said the industry needs clear rules.
Discussing the bill pending before the Banking Committee, he said it was not perfect, “certainly not,” but asked whether it was better than nothing. His answer was clear: “Absolutely.” He then called for continued constructive work with policymakers and added, “We need to continue to work constructively with Washington … But we shouldn’t give up now. We are so close.”
Ripple legal chief also pressed for Senate action
Ripple chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty echoed that message in a reply to Garlinghouse’s X post on Jan. 14. He wrote that clear guardrails and market integrity would make for a stronger U.S. financial system, then urged the Senate to act.
Together, the statements show the pressure still coming from parts of the crypto industry as lawmakers debate how to handle market rules for assets including bitcoin, ether, and XRP.