XRP is trading well below its January highs. The broader crypto market has been volatile, geopolitical uncertainty has kept risk appetite suppressed, and the regulatory clarity that everyone has been waiting for keeps getting pushed back by a few more weeks.Advertisement

None of that has moved Brad Garlinghouse.

The Ripple CEO has given a string of major public appearances in 2026, and the message has been remarkably consistent across all of them. Not defensive. Not cautious. Quietly confident in a way that either shows conviction or extraordinary discipline, possibly both.

January: Davos and the Institutional Gap

Garlinghouse opened 2026 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he framed XRP not as a speculative asset but as neutral financial infrastructure for a world increasingly fragmented by sanctions and geopolitical tension.

He pointed to stablecoin transaction volume growing from $19 trillion in 2024 to $33 trillion in 2025, roughly 75% year-over-year growth, as evidence that the infrastructure story was already playing out in the numbers. At the same time, he made a point of noting that institutional interest from firms like BlackRock and Vanguard had not yet been fully reflected in prices.

“I don’t think institutional interest is priced into the crypto market as much as I would have expected right now,” he said.

XRP was pulling back from around $2.40 toward $1.85 at the time. He did not flinch.

February: Fox Business and an 80% Bet on Congress

On Fox Business, Garlinghouse put his credibility behind a specific prediction. He estimated an 80 to 90% chance the CLARITY Act would pass Congress by April, described XRP as one of the best-performing major cryptocurrencies, and said the broader sector would soon get the regulatory certainty it needed.

At the XRP Community Day, he outlined Ripple’s plan to slow acquisitions and focus on integrating the $4 billion worth of companies acquired during 2025.

March: Three Continents, Five Days, and a Record Quarter

In March, Garlinghouse travelled to three continents and four global offices in five days. He then announced Ripple Prime had tripled its revenue run rate and described the company as being on a tear.

His message on XRP remained unchanged.

“Making XRP more useful, more trusted, with higher utility, that is our North Star,” he said.

April: End of May and a Compromise Is Coming

At the Semafor World Economy Summit on April 13, Garlinghouse addressed the stablecoin yield dispute that has been holding up the CLARITY Act. His read on the political situation was characteristically direct.

“When people are at their peak of frustration, that’s when they finally compromise, and it gets done. I think we’re there,” he said.

He pushed his CLARITY Act timeline to the end of May, his third revision of the year. But the direction has not changed. He told the audience that CLARITY passing would unlock banks globally to participate fully in crypto, something he called far bigger than anything Ripple itself could do alone.