TGIF Dispatchers. Welcome to the second edition of HashedIn.
Our weekly feature unmasking the stories of the people in the news and behind the crypto headlines.
XRP is closing in on $180 billion market cap. Brad Garlinghouse the CEO of Ripple, the company behind XRP, dines with the US President Donald Trump.
It's hard to believe that just over two years ago, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was trying to end Garlinghouse's career.
What are we looking at?
From a TRS-80 computer in Topeka to the halls of Harvard
The "Peanut Butter Manifesto" that made him famous
The $1.3 billion US SEC battle that nearly ended it all
Inside Ripple's remarkable resurrection under Trump
The growing criticism: Is this success built on lobbying?
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In 2020, Brad Garlinghouse's world turned upside down.
The US SEC, America's financial watchdog, had just accused him and his company Ripple of conducting a $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering.
Many thought it was game over – both for Ripple and its CEO.
Garlinghouse didn't back down. He fought back. And won.
Today, as we enter 2025, that same "securities violator" is having private dinners with the President, while his company's token has just leapfrogged both Tether and BlackRock in market cap.
XRP, once dismissed as dead in the water, is now worth more than the world's largest asset manager.
It's the kind of plot twist that even Hollywood might reject as too far-fetched.
To understand how a Kansas-born economics graduate ended up at the centre of crypto's most dramatic redemption story – and potentially its next chapter – we need to go back to the beginning.
It's a story about second acts in American business.
About the thin line between visionary and violator. About how sometimes the most revolutionary moves come from the most traditional places.
And it all started with a father's gift of a computer to his son in Topeka.
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Early Life: Making of a Disruptor
If you're looking for signs of future disruption in Brad Garlinghouse's early years, you might be disappointed.
Born on February 6, 1971, in Topeka, Kansas, his story begins with something endearingly ordinary: a TRS-80 computer gifted by his father.
That modest introduction to technology would set the stage for a career that's been anything but ordinary.
After earning his Economics degree from the University of Kansas and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1997, Garlinghouse didn't immediately jump into blockchain.
He took a more traditional path through the trenches of the first dot-com boom.
His early career reads like a Silicon Valley greatest hits album: @Home Network, @Ventures, AOL, Yahoo!
It was at Yahoo! where Garlinghouse first showed his appetite for challenging the status quo.
In 2006, as a Senior VP overseeing Yahoo Mail and Messenger, he penned what became known as the "Peanut Butter Manifesto" – a scathing internal memo that accused Yahoo! of spreading itself too thin, like peanut butter scraped across too much bread.
The memo leaked, went viral, and suddenly Garlinghouse had a reputation as someone unafraid to speak uncomfortable truths.
He would need that courage for what came next.
These traits would serve him well in his next roles. As President of Consumer Applications at AOL from 2009 to 2012, he helped modernise the company's core products.
Then, as CEO of file-sharing service Hightail (formerly YouSendIt), he demonstrated his ability to guide companies through critical transitions.
Garlinghouse was building more than just his resume.
He was developing a playbook for transforming legacy systems – one that would prove invaluable when he discovered blockchain technology.
By 2015, he'd become an active angel investor, backing over 40 companies including AI startup Diffbot and hardware company Pure Storage.
At the same time, he was serving on the boards of several tech companies, including Ancestry.com and Tonic Health.
Then came the pivot that would change everything.
In April 2015, Garlinghouse joined Ripple Labs as COO. The move raised eyebrows.
Why would a successful Silicon Valley executive join a cryptocurrency company?
At the time, Bitcoin was still viewed with skepticism by the mainstream, and "blockchain" was barely part of the business lexicon.
Garlinghouse saw something others missed: the possibility of using blockchain technology to solve a real-world problem – the inefficiency of global payments.
Within a year, he was CEO.
What happened next would test not just Garlinghouse's leadership, but his entire belief in the future of cryptocurrency.
As 2025 begins, that test is delivering results that few could have predicted.
Work Experience
The $1.3-Billion Question
December 22, 2020. Just three days before Christmas, the SEC dropped what many called a nuclear bomb on the crypto industry: a lawsuit alleging that Garlinghouse, Ripple Labs, and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen had conducted an unregistered securities offering worth $1.3 billion.
The crypto market reacted violently.
XRP's price plummeted.
Exchanges delisted the token.
Critics declared Ripple dead in the water.
Garlinghouse had other plans.
Instead of settling – the traditional path taken by most companies facing SEC action – Ripple chose to fight.
It was a $1.3-billion gamble that would define not just Garlinghouse's legacy, but potentially the future of cryptocurrency regulation in America.
The battle raged for nearly three years.
On October 19, 2023, something remarkable happened: the SEC voluntarily dismissed all remaining claims against Garlinghouse.
It was an unprecedented victory that transformed him from industry pariah to crypto folk hero overnight.
Garlinghouse wasn't done.
As 2024 drew to a close, he began methodically positioning Ripple for crypto's next chapter.
The company launched RLUSD, its own dollar-pegged stablecoin. XRP's decentralised exchange (DEX) crossed $400 million in January 2025 trading volume.
Read: Ripple Goes Stable 🎯
And perhaps most tellingly, 75% of Ripple's new job openings are now based in the United States – a dramatic shift for a company that once faced extinction at the hands of US regulators.
With Donald Trump in the Whitehouse, and Gary Gensler no more with the SEC, the regulatory landscape that once threatened to destroy Ripple has changed dramatically.
Garlinghouse appears to be several moves ahead.
The Empire Strikes Back
As 2025 begins, Brad Garlinghouse sits at the centre of crypto's most remarkable turnaround story.
XRP, the token that many left for dead during the SEC battle, has just achieved something unprecedented: market cap closing in on $180 billion.
It has surpassed not just Tether, but even BlackRock – the world's largest asset manager.
Read: Ripple Rides Trump Wave 🌊
It's now the third-largest cryptocurrency, trailing only Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The numbers only tell part of the story.
Under Garlinghouse's leadership, Ripple has been methodically positioning itself for crypto's next era.
The company launched RLUSD, its own dollar-pegged stablecoin.
Its decentralised exchange crossed $400 million in January trading volume.
Garlinghouse has been spotted having private dinners with President-elect Trump, and rumours swirl about XRP's potential inclusion in a national digital asset reserve.
Garlinghouse hasn't forgotten his roots.
His contributions include a $25 million pledge to Fairshake, a nonprofit advocating for financial justice, and a $35 million donation to his alma mater, the University of Kansas.
Perhaps his most significant contribution has been his vision for crypto's future.
While others push for Bitcoin maximalism, Garlinghouse advocates for a more inclusive approach.
"I own XRP, BTC, and ETH among a handful of others. We live in a multichain world. If a government digital asset reserve is created, it should reflect the broader industry, not just a single asset. Maximalism hinders crypto progress, and I’m encouraged to see more people moving beyond this outdated mindset.”
Meanwhile, Ripple President Monica Long suggests that an XRP ETF could soon follow Bitcoin and Ether, especially with favourable US crypto regulations.
“I think that we will see more crypto spot ETFs this year coming out of the US, and I think XRP is likely to be next in line after bitcoin and ether,” Long said.
Ripple has seen a surge in US business deals, signing more contracts in the last six weeks of 2024 than in the previous six months, indicating a positive shift in the business environment.
Several firms, including Bitwise and WisdomTree, have filed for XRP ETFs, but decisions on these applications are still pending.
As speculation builds about potential XRP ETF approvals and further price appreciation – some analysts predict $27 by year-end – Garlinghouse seems focused on a bigger picture.
He's scheduled to deliver a major address on January 28, 2025, about Ripple's future and the broader cryptocurrency landscape.
The Kansas kid who once wrote memos about peanut butter is now shaping the future of finance.
If the last few months are any indication, he's just getting started.
Everyone's Not Celebrating Ripple
Critics argue that Garlinghouse's recent successes stem more from political manoeuvring than technological innovation.
Pierre Rochard, VP of Research at Riot Platforms, recently identified XRP as "the biggest obstacle for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve," claiming Ripple is "aggressively lobbying against the SBR by throwing around millions at politicians."
The criticism cuts deeper. Will Foxley, Co-Founder of Blockspace Media, went as far as calling XRP "truly the worst crypto project out there," pointing to what he sees as "seemingly zero traction on its 'international banking' development it's touted for a dozen years."
Read: Is XRP Crashing BTC's Stockpile Party? 🎈
Meanwhile, Jack Mallers, CEO of Zap, has slammed Ripple for promoting a "centralised, corporate-controlled token" – a direct challenge to Garlinghouse's vision of a multichain future.
The controversy intensified after photos surfaced of Garlinghouse dining with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, while Ripple's co-founder Chris Larsen publicly pledged $10 million in XRP to Kamala Harris's campaign.
It's a political hedge that has both sides questioning Ripple's true allegiances.
The debate highlights a fundamental tension in crypto's evolution: can you revolutionise the financial system by working within it?
Or does cooperation with traditional power structures betray crypto's core promise of decentralisation?
Token Dispatch View 🔍
In the noise of crypto's daily drama, it's easy to miss the larger story playing out. Brad Garlinghouse's journey – from US SEC target to power broker – tells us something crucial about where digital assets are heading.
The Kansas-born executive has masterfully played both sides of crypto's great divide: championing innovation while courting traditional power structures.
It's a strategy that's made him both powerful allies and fierce critics.
That's exactly what makes his story so important.
As crypto moves from the fringes to the mainstream, the industry faces a critical choice: maintain its revolutionary purity or compromise for mass adoption.
Garlinghouse has clearly chosen his path.
Whether it's the right one depends on your vision of crypto's future.
As XRP's market cap surpasses BlackRock and private dinners with Trump shape policy, one thing is certain: the era of crypto idealism is giving way to pragmatic reality.
For better or worse, Brad Garlinghouse might just be the face of that future.
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"December 22, 2020. Just three days before Christmas, the SEC dropped what many called a nuclear bomb on the crypto industry: a lawsuit alleging that Garlinghouse, Ripple Labs, and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen had conducted an unregistered securities offering worth $1.3 billion."
"Instead of settling – the traditional path taken by most companies facing SEC action – Ripple chose to fight."
"On October 19, 2023, something remarkable happened: the SEC voluntarily dismissed all remaining claims against Garlinghouse."
Certainly helps to have $1.3b to pay the expensive legal bills to fight the SEC