Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said XRP could serve as the preferred bridge asset for certain cross-border transactions, while stablecoins may be more effective for other payment requirements. The remarks resurfaced this week, but they were originally made on January 22.
Garlinghouse discussed the topic during Faena Rose’s January 22 program, The Transformative Power of Crypto Assets, which focused on cross-border payments and digital financial infrastructure. Portions of the discussion were reposted across social media on September 24, more than eight months after the original event.
Garlinghouse presented his view as dependent on the specific payment use case rather than suggesting that one digital asset should always be preferred. He said XRP may not be the most appropriate option for every transaction and argued against an XRP-only approach to payment utility. In some situations, he said, a stablecoin could address a customer’s needs more effectively. He also rejected the description of himself as an XRP maximalist, saying the practical utility of a technology should determine whether it is used.
That position is reflected in Ripple Payments’ current infrastructure. The platform can settle transactions using RLUSD, USDC, USDT, or fiat currencies, depending on customer requirements and regulatory availability in different jurisdictions. Ripple says its settlement infrastructure is designed independently of any single token issuer, allowing additional stablecoins to be integrated without rebuilding the broader system.
Ripple reports that its payment network supports collections, digital-asset conversions, and payouts across more than 60 markets and has handled more than $100 billion in payment volume.
XRP and RLUSD have different functions within this framework. XRP is a freely traded digital asset whose price is determined by the market, while Ripple describes it as the native cryptocurrency of the XRP Ledger and a bridge asset intended to enable fast, low-cost cross-border transfers.
This role is central to Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity system. The model allows a source currency to be converted into XRP, transferred across markets, and converted into the destination currency, reducing the need for institutions to maintain pre-funded nostro accounts.
RLUSD is designed for a different purpose. Ripple describes the stablecoin as a dollar-backed asset intended for payments, remittances, treasury operations, and settlement. It is backed 1:1 by cash deposits, U.S. Treasuries, and cash equivalents and can be redeemed for U.S. dollars.
The key distinction is price stability. XRP’s value changes according to market conditions, whereas RLUSD is designed to maintain a value of $1. That structure can be useful for corporate treasurers handling regular settlement flows who want to limit exposure to cryptocurrency price fluctuations.
The broader payments industry is also increasingly incorporating stablecoins into financial infrastructure, expanding their use beyond individual blockchain networks.
Garlinghouse’s January comments came months before the Senate’s September 15 cloture vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. The bill failed to advance after a 49-50 vote, leaving it short of the 60 votes required to move forward with H.R. 3633. Ripple described the result as a missed opportunity and maintained that its position on XRP’s regulatory status remained unchanged, citing the SEC and CFTC’s March 2026 interpretation that identifies XRP as a digital commodity.
The legislative developments are separate from Ripple’s approach to choosing settlement assets, but they provide additional context for the resurfaced comments. When Garlinghouse made the remarks in January, he was describing a payments model designed to use different assets according to customer needs—not announcing a move away from XRP or responding to a legislative outcome that had yet to occur.
For traders and investors, the broader point is that Ripple’s existing payments infrastructure already accommodates multiple settlement assets. The resurfaced comments therefore provide additional context for a multi-asset strategy that was already reflected in the company’s products rather than signaling a newly announced shift away from XRP.
