A fresh wave of excitement has gripped the crypto community after Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse claimed that XRP could eventually surpass Bitcoin, boasting a future market cap of $640 trillion. In a recent interview, Garlinghouse stated XRP’s current price struggles to the ongoing legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which he believes unfairly disrupted the token’s growth trajectory.
“People forget that before the SEC got involved, XRP was the second most valuable digital asset, ranked even above Ethereum,” Garlinghouse said. “Then the SEC came in, gave Ethereum a free pass, sued Ripple, and XRP dropped. That’s not how our government should function, picking winners and losers in the market.” Despite frustrations over the regulatory environment, Garlinghouse remains optimistic. “We believe that in the long run, things will sort themselves out, and we will prevail,” he added.
Ripple CEO confirms $XRP will overtake Bitcoin in market cap worth of $640 Trillion Dollars in MC!
This would put the price of XRP at $10,989pic.twitter.com/YXUZ5Wy8ho
— KingXRP (@MRKingXRP) July 1, 2025
A tattooed commitment to XRP
In a show of personal conviction, Garlinghouse recently responded to a crypto enthusiast on X who praised his decision to get a tattoo after 50. The tattoo features the XRP logo and the date July 13, 2023 – an important date in Ripple’s legal saga. That day, a court ruled that XRP’s institutional sales violated securities laws but cleared its retail sales, offering partial relief to Ripple. “When someone with a Harvard MBA gets a tattoo after 50, they’ve thought it through,” the user wrote. Garlinghouse replied simply: “1000%.”
Ripple and SEC move toward resolution
Ripple recently dropped its cross-appeal against the SEC, and the SEC is expected to do the same. However, efforts to reduce Ripple’s $125 million penalty hit a roadblock. A U.S. district court denied the joint request to ease the penalty or reverse the classification of institutional XRP sales as securities.Judge Analisa Torres emphasised Ripple’s tendency to “push the boundaries,” implying a risk of continued violations. Despite the setback, Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty reassured stakeholders that XRP’s legal status for retail sales remains unaffected. “Regardless of the appeals, XRP is not considered a security when sold to the public,” Alderoty said.
XRP ledger gets major upgrade amid user surge
In parallel with its legal maneuvers, Ripple continues to innovate. RippleX, its development arm, just launched version 2.5.0 of the XRP Ledger, touted as the most impactful upgrade yet. RippleX engineer Mayukha Vadari described it as “possibly the best single lineup of amendments,” with notable changes including, XLS-85 enhances the escrow system to support third-party tokens like stablecoins and introduces multi-purpose tokens tailored for institutional use. XLS-56 introduces wrapper transactions that bundle up to eight steps into one, improving efficiency and reducing failure rates for complex transactions. The upgrade coincides with a dramatic spike in XRP Ledger activity. Daily active addresses have surged from 35,000 to over 295,000, signaling growing adoption. With technical advancements accelerating and legal clarity slowly taking shape, Ripple appears to be positioning XRP for a comeback, possibly even one bold enough to challenge Bitcoin’s dominance.
