Ripple eyes a landmark SEC settlement paid in XRP as CEO Brad Garlinghouse boldly forecasts bitcoin hitting $200,000, signaling explosive momentum for the crypto market.
Ripple Discusses Settling With SEC Using XRP, CEO Sees $200K Bitcoin Ahead
Ripple Chief Executive Brad Garlinghouse said the company’s settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could potentially involve payment in XRP. He also offered a bullish outlook on bitcoin’s future price during an April 11 interview with Fox Business. Describing a changing environment for digital assets in the U.S., Garlinghouse framed the reduced financial penalty as a breakthrough moment for Ripple. He stated:
The SEC is going to end up with $50 million. The U.S. government is going to get $50 million. We even talked about making that available in XRP.
“At the end of the day, this is a major step forward,” the chief executive stressed. Ripple had originally placed $125 million in escrow, but will retain a majority of the funds under the terms of the agreement.
Garlinghouse described the deal, which is still awaiting final SEC commissioner approval, as a signal that U.S. regulators are taking a more supportive stance toward blockchain and crypto firms. He credited a shift in leadership at both the SEC and the White House for creating what he called “tailwinds” instead of hostility. The mention of XRP as a possible settlement instrument marked a notable change in tone from federal regulators, who had previously challenged its status as a security. Garlinghouse argued that such progress would not have been achievable under the previous administration and said Ripple is now well-positioned to grow within the U.S. under a more stable and innovation-oriented framework.
I will predict bitcoin … I think $200,000 is not unreasonable.
“I think people underestimate how the largest economy in the world—the United States—went from headwinds, hostility to tailwinds, and I think people are still not fully quantifying how significant that is,” he concluded.
