RippleCEO: Record growth in the first quarter warns of regulatory "weaponization" dragging down encryption innovation

RippleLabs CEO Brad Garlinghouse said in an interview that the company's business continues to accelerate driven by mergers and acquisitions and is expected to achieve a "record" performance in the first quarter of 2026. Garlinghouse pointed out that Ripple will invest approximately US$4 billion in the crypto ecosystem in 2025 through investments, mergers and acquisitions, including the acquisition of HiddenRoad (US$1.25 billion) and GTreasury (US$1 billion), significantly enhancing the company's presence in institutional services and financial infrastructure. At the regulatory level, he remains generally optimistic about the prospects of U.S. digital asset policy, but expects the implementation of the CLARITYAct to be later than previously expected, postponed from the original end of April to the end of May. He also warned that if policies are "weaponized" for political games rather than promoting industry development, it may have a negative impact on innovation. "The market is highly concerned about whether the U.S. regulatory framework can be implemented, and we need to avoid the recurrence of policy uncertainties similar to those during Gary Gensler's era," Garlinghouse said. At present, the crypto industry and traditional financial institutions are still competing on relevant legislative details, including key issues such as stable currency earnings, and the regulatory process is facing certain resistance.