Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has acknowledged that XRP is not necessarily the best solution for every existing payment-related use case.
The comments come from Garlinghouse’s recently resurfaced appearance at Faena Rose during a conversation titled The Transformative Power of Crypto Assets. The event focused on cross-border payments, stablecoins, financial inclusion and other areas.
When it comes to cross-border payments, Garlinghouse said XRP could be the optimal bridge asset in some circumstances.
“It could be that XRP is the best bridge asset for that purpose,” he said.
At the same time, Garlinghouse immediately made it clear that XRP does not necessarily have to be used if another asset can do the job more effectively. He acknowledged that a stablecoin could instead “solve that problem better.”
Ripple, of course, has a major stake in the XRP cryptocurrency.
Garlinghouse has also rejected the idea that XRP is centralized, noting that he is no longer willing to respond to such accusations.
“I’m not an XRP maximalist”
Garlinghouse explicitly made it clear that he is not exclusively committed to XRP.
“I’m not one of these people who’s an XRP maximalist. I’m bullish on a bunch of cryptos, for a bunch of reasons,” he said.
Garlinghouse also revealed that he personally holds Solana (SOL).
Utility above everything else
The Ripple boss has stressed that cryptocurrencies have to solve actual problems.
“There are a lot of things happening in crypto. I think a lot of them have been net bad for crypto,” Garlinghouse said.
He singled out some of the industry’s biggest speculative trends.
“So the NFT craze and the Bored Apes, like, I personally was like, listen, I don’t see how that creates value,” he said. “More recently, the meme coin craze, like, I don’t really get it.”
Garlinghouse then laid out what appears to be his basic test for crypto assets.
“I think any technology and any token, it has to have a real use case and it has to solve a problem, or I just kind of don’t get it,” he said.
This helps explain his willingness to acknowledge that XRP might not always be the answer.
If usefulness is the main criterion, the choice of asset becomes secondary.
Dogecoin criticism brought backlash
Garlinghouse also recalled attracting Dogecoin several years ago, which resulted in significant backlash.
“I got a lot of shit years ago because I came out and said, in that context, I said something negative about Dogecoin,” he said.
“This is the same time Elon Musk was talking positively about Dogecoin,” Garlinghouse added.
Garlinghouse has repeatedly stressed that he primarily values utility.
“I think any technology and any token, it has to have a real use case and it has to solve a problem, or I just kind of don’t get it.”
Respect for Coinbase despite disagreements
Garlinghouse also used the interview to praise Coinbase and its CEO Brian Armstrong despite the disagreements between the two major companies over the now-failed Clarity Act.
“There are only a few really large, consequential crypto companies in the United States. Coinbase is clearly one of them,” Garlinghouse said.
“In that context, I have a ton of respect for Coinbase. I have a ton of respect for Brian,” he added.
