Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the company spent about $150 million on outside legal counsel during its four-year legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, using the case to argue for clearer rules for the crypto industry.
Speaking Thursday at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s inaugural Innovation Advisory Committee meeting in Washington, Garlinghouse said regulatory uncertainty had affected Ripple’s hiring and international operations. He said about 80% of the company’s hiring during the four years was outside the U.S.
“The status quo is not good enough for consumers or for innovation,” Garlinghouse said at the meeting. He called for “clear rules of the road” to give companies greater certainty over how they can operate in the U.S.
Ripple’s SEC fight became example of regulatory costs
Garlinghouse used Ripple’s experience with the SEC to illustrate the costs of regulatory uncertainty. Ripple’s dispute with the SEC began in 2020, when the regulator sued the company and Garlinghouse over the sale of XRP. The litigation has since been substantially resolved, with the SEC and Ripple agreeing in 2025 to end their appeals.
Garlinghouse said Ripple’s experience demonstrated why companies need greater clarity before making long-term investments in the U.S.
The remarks came as U.S. regulators and lawmakers consider how to divide oversight of digital assets between the SEC and CFTC.
Crypto regulation takes center stage at CFTC
The CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee was created to advise the agency on issues at the intersection of technology, finance, law and policy. Its inaugural meeting is examining cryptocurrency regulation, artificial intelligence and prediction markets. The crypto session includes discussion of the lack of a comprehensive federal market-structure framework, differences among state licensing regimes and the role of enforcement actions in shaping digital-asset regulation.
CFTC Chairman Michael Selig has separately argued that Congress should establish a federal framework for crypto markets. In his remarks to the committee, he said the agency is also exploring how its existing authority could be used to establish rules for crypto-asset markets if legislation does not advance.
Trump presses Congress on CLARITY Act
The CFTC meeting followed Trump’s White House gathering with crypto executives and financial-market leaders on Wednesday. Trump called on Congress to pass what he described as a “fair version” of the CLARITY Act, making the legislation a central part of his remarks on the future of U.S. digital-asset regulation.
The administration has previously backed federal market-structure legislation, saying the framework would clarify regulatory responsibilities for digital assets.
The CLARITY Act would address the division of regulatory authority over digital assets between the SEC and CFTC and establish rules for crypto-asset markets.
Garlinghouse says U.S. needs clear rules
Moreover, Garlinghouse said blockchain technology could make payments and the movement of money faster and more efficient, but argued that broader adoption would require regulatory certainty. “We have to have clarity to unlock that potential responsibly,” he said.
He also pointed to Ripple’s London office as evidence of how regulatory conditions have influenced the company’s geographic footprint.
The comments place Garlinghouse among crypto executives pressing U.S. regulators and lawmakers for a clearer framework as Congress considers market-structure legislation and the CFTC explores how its existing authority could apply to digital assets.
The CFTC says its Innovation Advisory Committee is intended to provide recommendations on technological changes affecting financial markets and the U.S. economy.
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