Brad Garlinghouse’s $13 trillion XRP vision and the AI–stablecoin boom

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse is doubling down on a massive long-term vision for XRP, stablecoins, and AI-powered finance. In a new interview, he lays out how regulation, tokenization, and on-chain treasury tools could unlock trillions in value and firmly embed XRP in the global financial system.

Why regulation is the key to mainstream crypto adoption

Garlinghouse argues that clear rules are the missing piece for large-scale crypto adoption in the United States. Right now, he notes that around 90% of crypto trading happens offshore, which does little to protect U.S. consumers or attract serious institutional players.

He supports the proposed Clarity Act, a U.S. bill aimed at creating a framework for digital assets. In his view, this kind of legislation would finally give banks, corporates, and payment providers the confidence to use crypto at scale without fearing a future regulatory crackdown.

Executives like CFOs and treasurers, he says, are interested but cautious. They want to know that a “future Gary Gensler” can’t suddenly reverse course and attack the industry again. A clear legal framework would remove that overhang and allow U.S. institutions to lean in instead of sitting on the sidelines.

Why big banks are pushing back

Not everyone is happy about this shift. Garlinghouse calls out JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who has spent years dismissing crypto—calling Bitcoin a “pet rock” and the industry a Ponzi scheme—while JPMorgan earns around $20 billion in revenue and over $5 billion in profit from its payments business alone.

From Garlinghouse’s perspective, this isn’t just skepticism; it’s protectionism. Legacy banks have a huge financial incentive to keep the status quo and maintain their “moats” around payments. That’s why he sees some of the criticism of the Clarity Act as either misleading or negligent, especially when it suggests that crypto reduces compliance or makes it easier to do “bad things.”

He also stresses that no single exchange or company represents the entire industry. Just as Coinbase is ultimately looking out for Coinbase, JPMorgan is looking out for JPMorgan. The broader crypto sector, he says, actually wants regulation and clarity, not a way around the rules.

Ripple’s focus: enterprise payments and treasury, not retail trading

Unlike many crypto projects chasing retail traders, Ripple is firmly focused on enterprise customers. Its core clients are banks, payment providers, prime brokers, and corporates that need to move money and manage liquidity globally.

Garlinghouse says Ripple has grown “dramatically” over the past year, largely outside the U.S., and expects to end the year with a $1 billion revenue run rate—excluding the XRP on its balance sheet. That growth is coming from real-world use cases, not speculative trading.

One of the biggest drivers is Ripple Treasury, which he describes as a kind of CFO dashboard. Large companies often hold bank accounts and balances in multiple currencies around the world. Ripple Treasury gives them a single snapshot of their liquidity, helping them see what they hold, where they hold it, and how efficiently they can move it.

Stablecoins as finance’s “ChatGPT moment”

Garlinghouse believes stablecoins are to finance what ChatGPT is to AI: a tipping point that makes the technology impossible to ignore. Even long-time crypto skeptics are now acknowledging that stablecoins will be an integral part of the future payment system.

Ripple is leaning into that shift with its own stablecoin, RLUSD, which launched roughly 18 months ago and has already grown into a top-five stablecoin by market metrics. The idea is to plug RLUSD directly into Ripple Treasury and other payment products, so CFOs can seamlessly use stablecoins alongside traditional currencies to move money faster and cheaper.

This stablecoin push fits into a broader trend of tokenized assets and on-chain settlement that could be especially important as more countries and companies explore their own digital currencies and stablecoins. For example, moves like Japan’s yen stablecoin experiments could be a major catalyst for XRP and Ripple’s infrastructure in Asia, as explored in this deep dive on Japan’s yen stablecoin push and XRP.

AI agents and the XRP Ledger: a powerful combination

One of the most forward-looking parts of Ripple’s strategy is the intersection of AI and blockchain. Ripple has launched an AI starter kit for the XRP Ledger, giving developers a curated set of tools to build AI agent–powered applications that can make payments on-chain.

AI agents—software agents that can act autonomously—are already being tested in areas like trading, automation, and data analysis. The next step is giving them the ability to move value. That’s where blockchains like the XRP Ledger come in.

Garlinghouse stresses a few key points about this convergence:

• AI agents can’t open bank accounts. They can’t walk into a bank branch or pass traditional KYC processes. But they can interact with permissionless blockchains.

• They need instant, final settlement. For autonomous agents making rapid decisions, slow or reversible payments are a problem. XRP’s design—fast, low-cost, and with near-instant finality—fits this need well.

• Security and safeguards are critical. Garlinghouse is clear that we’re still in the experimentation phase. He wouldn’t connect an AI agent directly to his main bank or brokerage account today. There need to be strong protections, limits, and structures in place before that becomes mainstream.

To support this future, Ripple is working with major players like Mastercard and around 30 other companies on AI and payments infrastructure. The goal is to be “future ready” and “future proof” so that as AI agents become more capable, they can plug into the XRP Ledger safely and efficiently.

How XRP fits into a $13 trillion+ tokenized future

Behind all of this is a much bigger macro story: the tokenization of money, assets, and financial infrastructure. As more value moves on-chain—through stablecoins, tokenized assets, and AI-driven payment flows—the need for fast, neutral bridge assets grows.

That’s where XRP’s long-term thesis comes in. XRP was built to be a neutral, high-speed settlement asset that can bridge different currencies and systems. As AI agents, stablecoins, and tokenized assets proliferate, the demand for such a bridge asset could scale into the trillions.

Some analysts and industry voices see the total addressable market for tokenized assets and on-chain settlement reaching well into the tens of trillions of dollars over the coming decade. In that context, Garlinghouse’s confidence in XRP’s role doesn’t look as far-fetched as it might to short-term traders focused only on the current price chart.

Short-term price vs. long-term fundamentals

At the time of the discussion, XRP was trading close to $1, and many holders were frustrated by its relatively muted price performance compared to other coins. But the fundamental story looks very different:

• Ripple is on track for a $1 billion annual revenue run rate, excluding XRP holdings.

• Its stablecoin has quickly become a top-five player.

• Enterprise products like Ripple Treasury are seeing strong demand from real businesses.

• AI and tokenization are opening entirely new categories of on-chain activity.

For long-term investors, this disconnect between fundamentals and price can look like an opportunity rather than a reason to capitulate. Of course, that doesn’t remove risk: crypto remains volatile, regulatory outcomes are not guaranteed, and new competitors can always emerge.

But the direction of travel is clear: more regulation, more tokenization, more AI integration, and more demand for efficient, neutral settlement assets. XRP is positioned at the center of that thesis.

What comprehensive U.S. crypto laws could unlock next

Looking ahead, comprehensive U.S. digital asset legislation could be a major catalyst. For Ripple, it would mean:

• Greater ability to serve U.S.-based banks and corporates without legal uncertainty.

• More comfort for CFOs and treasurers to integrate stablecoins and XRP into their treasury operations.

• Stronger alignment between U.S. policy and the rest of the world, where Ripple is already seeing rapid growth.

We’re already seeing how geopolitical and regulatory shifts can reshape the landscape for XRP and other altcoins, from proposed U.S. Bitcoin reserves to international deals and sanctions policy. For more on that angle, see our breakdown of what the new U.S. Bitcoin reserve bill could mean for XRP and altcoins.

The bottom line: XRP’s role in the next wave of finance

Garlinghouse’s message is straightforward: despite short-term volatility and regulatory noise, Ripple and XRP are increasingly woven into the fabric of global finance. From enterprise treasury tools and stablecoins to AI agents and tokenized assets, the pieces are being put in place for a much larger, multi-trillion-dollar on-chain economy.

Whether XRP ultimately captures a meaningful share of that value will depend on execution, regulation, and competition. But the direction is unmistakable: AI, stablecoins, and blockchain are converging—and XRP is aiming to be one of the core assets that makes that system work.

As always, anyone considering exposure to XRP or related platforms should do their own research, understand the risks, and think in terms of long-term fundamentals rather than short-term hype.