Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Defends Against Bitcoin Reserve Sabotage Claims

The push for a strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) dates back many months, and today, Ripple Labs was flagged as a firm actively lobbying against achieving this. This callout came from Pierre Rochard, the VP of Research at Riot Platforms, who said Ripple Labs is throwing money at politicians to derail the SBR plans.

Strategic Bitcoin Reserve: The Rochard Claims

According to Rochard, the biggest obstacle dragging down the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is not the Fed. He noted that these obstacles are neither the US Treasury, banks, or Elizabeth Warren. 

He said the problem is Ripple Labs and the obvious focus on XRP. The Riot Platforms executive noted that Ripple is “aggressively lobbying against the SBR by throwing around $millions at politicians.” He believes the motivation of Ripple Labs is to derail the strategic Bitcoin reserve plans. 

Pierre Rochard went on to cite similar examples related to crypto mining. He said Ripple Labs attacked Bitcoin mining under President Joe Biden’s administration. 

“Obviously they want to protect their marketing narratives and push for CBDCs built on their platform,” he claims.

Ripple Labs CEO Fires Back

Responding to the claims from Rochard, Brad Garlinghouse said perhaps he is choosing to ignore the core tenets of President Donald Trump’s campaign. For emphasis, he said this campaign promises to support American companies and technologies in general.

Garlinghouse said its efforts are, on the contrary, increasing the likelihood of a crypto strategic reserve, including Bitcoin, happening.

Unless you are choosing to ignore the core tenants of the POTUS campaign (which aggressively supports American companies and technologies), our efforts are actually INCREASING the likelihood of a crypto strategic reserve (which includes bitcoin) happening.

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) January 23, 2025

Just after the word exchange on X, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to establish a national digital asset stockpile. Earlier, the President ruled out a single asset reserve as other altcoins, including XRP, were favored to make the list.

Trump Presidency Fulfilling Campaign Promises

The announcement of the national digital asset stockpile is a major lift for the crypto industry. While it is causing displeasure among Bitcoin maxis, the President is largely making good on his campaign promises to the digital currency ecosystem.

On inauguration day, the White House named Mark Uyeda as acting chairman of the US SEC. Also, the President appointed Caroline Pham as the Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Both regulators are pro-crypto and were endorsed by industry leaders.

As one of his first acts in office, Uyeda created a crypto task force led by Hester Peirce to drive the regulatory agenda in the sector.