Brad Garlinghouse pushes back on skepticism from Nathaniel Popper and the Financial Times over XRP

Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s chief executive, has criticized a Financial Times article and The New York Times columnist Nathaniel Popper. Journalists questioned the potential of the startup’s cross-border payments platform that uses the XRP token.

1/ My fav skeptics are active today! (@FT @nathanielpopper) Ripple has absolutely no plans to ‘reset’ our strategy. Using XRP to solve a real-world, $10T problem, like cross-border payments, is working (1/4) https://t.co/Gkf70dq7G6

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) August 13, 2020

The Ripple CEO remains confident that XRP still has the potential to solve the cross-border payments problem, a market he estimates at $10 trillion.

Garlinghouse urged critics to base their arguments on facts, not speculation, noting the following:

• The volume of transactions via [simple_tooltip content=’On-Demand Liquidity’]ODL[/simple_tooltip] (the product that uses XRP) has surpassed $2 billion since launch;
• In the first half of 2020 this metric grew 11-fold versus the same period last year;
• Over the three years, more than two dozen clients have joined the platform, including MoneyGram, goLance, Viamericas, FlashFX, Azimo and others.

3/ Over two dozen customers are on board w/ ODL including MoneyGram, goLance, Viamericas, FlashFX, Azimo and the list goes on…. (3/4)

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) August 13, 2020

Moments later Garlinghouse acknowledged an error in this tweet. He noted that RippleNet has processed not 2 billion transactions but 2 million with a notional value of $7 billion.

An important correction as there was a significant typo below. If I ever misspeak — I want to be the first one to address it. We have processed 2M+ (not 2B+) txns on RippleNet w/ a notional value of $7B+ https://t.co/g5qfTrjGw6

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) August 14, 2020

Financial Times noted the absence of a broad user base for the startup. Popper, author of Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story, reminded that as far back as 2018 Garlinghouse predicted banks would use XRP, but that did not happen. The NYT journalist noted that Ripple’s biggest bank partner, Santander, did not commit to using it.

I’m old enough to remember when the CEO of Ripple promised that banks were planning to use its crypto token XRP in the near future.

Now they have acknowledged that hasn’t happened — even Ripple’s biggest bank investor recently chose not to use it. https://t.co/1iWeIs8uTn

— Nathaniel Popper (@nathanielpopper) August 13, 2020

Popper added that investors who believed Garlinghouse at the time could have lost up to 90% of their investments.

If investors put their money into XRP on the day @BradGarlinghouse talked about the banks planning to use XRP — and held it to today — they would have lost around 90% of their investment.

— Nathaniel Popper (@nathanielpopper) August 13, 2020

Supporters of XRP argued that Popper’s comments were “journalism.” Garlinghouse himself joked that the journalist should look for him on Twitter under the right handle. The startup chief added that fact-checking should meet NYT standards.

4/ P.S. @nathanielpopper, for future reference — quick fact check and in keeping with NYT standards — my Twitter handle is @bgarlinghouse, not @bradgarlinghouse (4/4)

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) August 13, 2020

Garlinghouse’s clash with Popper is far from the only instance in which Ripple has to respond to pressure. There is currently an ongoing lawsuit, in which the startup accused of violating US securities laws. In May, a similar suit was brought against Ripple and its Brad Garlinghouse.

In April, the company and its CEO filed as plaintiffs against YouTube, accusing it of harming the startup’s reputation and brand.

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