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Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the company’s long-standing focus on connecting traditional finance with decentralized finance, once viewed skeptically within the crypto industry, has become one of Ripple’s core strengths as institutional adoption reshapes the sector.
From Controversial Bet to Industry Consensus
Garlinghouse said Ripple was “somewhat controversially” focused from early on on building a bridge between traditional financial systems and decentralized finance, a positioning he said was initially viewed as a negative within the crypto industry itself. He attributed that early skepticism to purists who believed the entire financial system needed to move fully on-chain to be legitimate.
He pushed back on that view directly, arguing the world still operates under existing laws and regulatory frameworks, and that traditional financial infrastructure will continue to matter unless the entire global financial system migrates on-chain, an outcome he said would take “longer than I’ll be alive.”
Why Retail-Dependent Crypto Companies Are Struggling
Garlinghouse pointed to the current market downturn as evidence that companies overly reliant on retail trading volume face structural vulnerability. He said that when a company’s revenue is tied directly to asset prices, a 50% price decline translates into a roughly equivalent revenue decline. He said this dynamic has driven layoffs across the industry and contributed to some exchanges shutting down entirely during the current bear market.
Ripple’s Institutional Focus Is Showing in Its Numbers
He said Ripple is on track for a record year and expects to more than double its revenue year over year, a result he attributed to the company’s institutional and infrastructure-focused business model rather than retail trading activity. He added that he believes Ripple’s growth would be even stronger with broader tailwinds across the crypto industry as a whole.
Garlinghouse also credited Kraken for a similar institutional pivot, referencing disclosed revenue figures from the exchange, though he said Kraken remains a private company and does not disclose all financial details publicly.
The CEO said more companies and investors are increasingly recognizing that infrastructure and institutional services, rather than retail trading volume, represent where long-term value in crypto is being built, a shift he framed as validating Ripple’s original strategy years after it drew criticism from parts of the industry.