- Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse hopes to talk to Gary Gensler and his new administration once he is officially appointed as the new SEC chairman.
- Garlinghouse is “a fan of Bitcoin” as a store of value, but not as a payment system. The XRP ledger is 100,000 times more energy efficient.
Brad Garlinghouse spoke about the status of the SEC lawsuit in a recent interview with Bloomberg. Garlinghouse emphasized right at the beginning that Ripple “indeed intends to fight the SEC and the lawsuit “vigorously”.
In our point of view, what is happens here, it is not just a lawsuit against Ripple, it’s really against the crypto industry at large,” Garlinghouse stated.
The Ripple CEO, as in previous interviews, pointed to the lack of regulatory clarity for investors and entrepreneurs, and that other countries such as the UK, Singapore, Japan, and Switzerland that have already taken care of this. As Garlinghouse revealed, Ripple is pinning its hopes on crypto-savvy MIT professor Gary Gensler, who is expected to be confirmed as the SEC’s new chairman before the end of April.
I’m hopeful that, as a new administration comes in to the SEC, there’s an opportunity to revisit some of these conversations. As you may know, Jay Clayton as the chair of the SEC, the day before he left office, he brought this lawsuit against Ripple and against me personally and against Chris Larsen personally.
[…] I am hopeful with Gary Gensler, likely the new chair of the SEC, there is an opportunity to have a conversation with that new leadership as he brings his team in, and what can be done for Ripple and really for the whole crypto industry to provide clarity and allow people to participate in these markets and build companies.
Host Emily Chang also addressed yesterday’s interview with Kraken CEO Jesse Powell, who claimed that by the end of the year, a Bitcoin will be worth a “Lambo,” while by the end of 2022, a Bitcoin will have the purchasing power for a Bugatti. “I think that to me and the crypto community those kinds of assets make it easier to measure Bitcoin, as you never know where the Dollar is going to be,” Powell said.
Garlinghouse acknowledged that Bitcoin “solves a real problem”:
I think it’s very clear that Bitcoin is solving a real problem for people who want to get exposure to this asset class. And I think, as Jesse said, there is a lot of inflation dynamics on some of the major fiat currencies.
At the same time, Garlinghouse again warned about Bitcoin’s impact on the environment, referencing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates:
Bitcoin as a payment mechanism is among the least efficient payment mechanisms that mankind has ever created because as the price of Bitcoin goes up, the energy consumption and the carbon footprint […] continues to scale aggressively, and I think we can’t lose sight as one Bitcoin transaction is equivalent to about 75 gallons of gasoline being burned.
However, Garlinghouse also said he is a fan of Bitcoin. “You just have to be clear what problem Bitcoin is solving, and as a store of value, as a kind of digital gold, Bitcoin is exceptional,” the Ripple CEO said. In terms of payments, however, the XRP ledger is 100,000 times more energy efficient than Bitcoin and has proven itself as a system, which is why RippleNet has continued to grow despite the SEC complaint, he said.
