Ripple CEO says XRP is infrastructure for the Internet of Value

Brad Garlinghouse told investors that Ripple now values at $50 billion after a $750 million share buyback and holds 75 regulatory licenses worldwide, positioning the XRP Ledger as the “infrastructure for the Internet of Value” [1][4]. He framed XRP not as an investment but as a payment layer that can settle transactions in three to five seconds for fractions of a penny, citing more than 4 billion ledger transactions since 2012 [4].

Garlinghouse’s narrative rests on a rapid acquisition spree that turned a cross‑border payments startup into a full‑stack digital‑asset provider. In 2025 Ripple spent roughly $4 billion buying traditional‑finance firms—including Hidden Road (now Ripple Prime) and GTreasury (now Ripple Treasury)—to build a global prime brokerage and a treasury‑management platform that support both fiat and digital assets [1]. The company continued buying in 2026, adding Solvexia for financial automation in January and securing a regulated payments license through BC Payments in March, despite earlier promises to pause deals [1]. These moves give Ripple custody, prime brokerage, treasury, stablecoin settlement and cross‑border payment capabilities under one roof.

The strategy, however, leaves a compliance gap that could hinder institutional adoption. Ripple integrated Chainalysis into its custody service but does not own the compliance technology, and a recent survey of over 1,000 finance leaders showed 40 % view regulatory compliance as their biggest concern [1]. Garlinghouse has ruled out buying a crypto exchange and hinted that future targets may be compliance‑oriented firms or regional fintechs in Africa, Latin America or the Middle East, where Ripple still relies on third‑party partners [1].

Garlinghouse also argues that the upcoming CLARITY Act could unlock U.S. bank participation in crypto, turning the “internet moment” for money into a broader market shift [2][3]. Yet most of Ripple’s institutional revenue comes from stablecoin and fiat settlements, not from XRP itself; the token’s price moves only when it is part of the settlement flow, a condition the pending legislation may affect [1][2].

If Ripple secures a compliance‑focused acquisition or expands directly into untapped regions before the end of 2026, it could tighten the link between its growing infrastructure and actual XRP usage, testing whether the “Internet of Value” claim translates into real token demand.