The Ripple CEO has addressed XRP’s role within Ripple’s operations, following renewed speculation that the company was pivoting away from XRP.
His comments came at Ripple Swell during an interview with Crypto in America journalist Eleanor Terrett. Notably, she questioned him on the XRP community’s concerns and the company’s growing strategy.
Concerns About XRP’s Relevance
Terrett noted that many individuals within the community had begun to question XRP’s relevance, given Ripple’s expansion into stablecoins and new financial products such as the Ripple stablecoin, RLUSD. She asked Garlinghouse to clarify his earlier statement that “XRP sits at the center of everything Ripple does.”
“I sometimes think people like to paint a picture that is somehow like Ripple’s given up on XRP. That just doesn’t make sense, like, I mean, for a whole bunch of reasons,” the Ripple CEO said.
Ripple Still Focuses on XRP, But It Can Diversify
Garlinghouse explained that Ripple has a goal to function as a global treasury management and infrastructure provider. Under this plan, the company plans to improve its payment offerings, including “Ripple Payments,” by leveraging various assets based on the best fit for each transaction corridor or currency pair.
Notably, he clarified that both stablecoins and XRP have their respective roles in Ripple’s ecosystem, and the choice of which to use depends on the situation.
Garlinghouse noted: “Some of those go through stablecoins. Some of those go through XRP. And that depends upon corridor. […] We want to deliver the best possible product to a customer. And sometimes that may be a stablecoin. Sometimes it may not.”
He further revealed that Ripple had heavy involvement in institutional payment flows, using multiple digital assets beyond XRP. For instance, in early 2023, Ripple minted about 20% of all USDC supply while facilitating large-scale transactions.
According to Garlinghouse, this approach to payment technology shows how Ripple maintains flexibility and focuses on efficiency rather than token exclusivity.
Ripple is Not a Maximalist Organization
Garlinghouse stressed that Ripple is not a “maximalist” organization that clings to one digital asset at the expense of others. Instead, the company seeks to use whichever technology best solves a specific customer problem. He noted that they are not XRP maximalists, as different problems would require solutions from different technologies.
“The whole crypto industry has to start with what problem and for what customer are we solving,” Garlinghouse added.
The Ripple CEO also pointed out that success for XRP does not depend on exclusivity but on overall industry growth. Specifically, if Ripple can scale its transaction volume from billions to trillions of dollars, even if XRP only powers part of that, it still marks a major achievement.
According to him, if Ripple moved from handling billions to trillions of dollars and “XRP doesn’t have 100% of that pie, but the pie is growing very quickly, that’s great.”
If XRP Posed No Threat, It Wouldn’t Face Attacks
Garlinghouse also acknowledged the XRP community. He said their resilience during challenging times, including the company’s legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), showed their dedication.
He said that the industry benefits more when stakeholders support one another, rather than fighting over market share or ideological dominance.
Following the interview, XRP community commentator Subjective Views shared a clip from the discussion, arguing that the hostility Ripple and XRP face only shows their potential impact. “If XRP posed no real threat, it wouldn’t face such relentless attacks,” he said.
If $XRP posed no real threat, it wouldn't face such relentless attacks. pic.twitter.com/Wc5A21vLpy
— Subjective Views (@subjectiveviews) November 5, 2025
