At DC Fintech Week, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse once again addressed one of the crypto industry’s biggest misconceptions: that Ripple controls XRP. He said that while Ripple is a company with its own leadership, XRP operates as an open source technology supported by a broad community of independent developers, companies, and users.
Garlinghouse pointed out that many people incorrectly treat XRP as a company with one leader. Instead, it works through a decentralized ecosystem with hundreds of independent builders contributing to the XRP Ledger.
“People say things like, ‘XRP has a CEO,’ and I’m like, ‘Who?’ Ripple has a CEO, and that’s me. But there are dozens, if not hundreds, of other CEOs building the XRP ecosystem around it,” he said.
Ripple’s legal battle and the industry’s role
Garlinghouse also shed light on Ripple’s long legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company has spent nearly $150 million defending itself to make it legally clear that XRP is not a security. He said Ripple fought the lawsuit not only for its own sake, but also to understand broader regulations within the crypto industry.
Ripple continues to support the development of a transparent multi-chain ecosystem and remains a major investor in blockchain innovation. Garlinghouse reaffirmed that Ripple’s goal is not to control cryptocurrencies, but to drive real-world utility through them.
Open source governance and independence
The XRP Ledger operates under a governance system that reflects its open source nature. Changes and modifications to the network require the approval of a majority of validators, not Ripple alone. There have also been cases where Ripple has opposed certain proposals that have yet to be approved by the community, showing that the company has no control over the direction of XRP.
This governance model is one of XRP’s key strengths, allowing it to evolve independently of Ripple’s internal decisions while maintaining security and decentralization.
