One of the biggest names in tech is finding it very hard to sit still. Ripple continues to ignore its own promise to stay quiet as the company keeps making major moves. During a recent talk with the community, CEO Brad Garlinghouse looked back on a highly successful 2025 and looked forward to an even bigger future.
“There will be a trillion-dollar crypto company… I think Ripple has the opportunity to be that company,” Garlinghouse said, adding that the company’s “reason for existence” is to drive success across the XRP (XRP-USD) ecosystem.
While he originally said 2026 would be a time for “digesting” old deals, the company has already snapped up two more firms in just three months to strengthen its hold on the market.
Ripple Is Building a Toolkit for Traditional Finance
Ripple is building a massive toolkit that traditional banks can’t ignore. The company has created a complete set of services that cover everything a major bank needs through the purchase of other firms rather than building every tool from scratch.
The company’s recent history is a checklist of big-money moves. In 2025, it spent billions on Hidden Road (now Ripple Prime) and GTreasury, giving it the power to handle trillions in institutional trades and manage money for over 1,000 corporate clients.
Even in this quiet year of 2026, Ripple has already added Solvexia for automation and BC Payments for a regulated license in Australia. This aggressive growth proves that Garlinghouse is racing toward that trillion-dollar finish line for both the company and the XRP network.
Regulatory Licensing Clears the Path for Ripple
The primary reason Ripple is winning over big banks is its focus on rules and licenses. The company now holds 75 regulatory licenses across the globe, which is a massive advantage in a world where governments are cracking down on crypto.
A recent survey found that 40% of finance leaders worry most about compliance when picking a digital partner. Ripple has addressed this through the integration of Chainalysis for real-time screening, but they still don’t own their own compliance tech. Analysts believe Ripple’s next big move could be buying a compliance firm to own that final piece of the puzzle. Ripple makes it safe for banks like BNY ($BK) to jump into the digital asset world and potentially use XRP for settlements through its direct control of infrastructure in regions like Australia, the UK, and Singapore.
Institutional Flow Slows the XRP Engine
There is a confusing gap between Ripple’s success and the price of its token, XRP. While Ripple the company is booming, the token is facing a settlement problem.
Most big institutions currently using Ripple’s network are settling their deals in RLUSD (Ripple’s stablecoin) or traditional fiat money like the dollar. They are avoiding XRP because of its price swings. Garlinghouse recently noted that the CLARITY Act is the key that opens the door for banks to participate without fear. If that law passes, it could remove the legal worries that keep banks from using the token.
Until then, Ripple is growing into a financial giant, but XRP is still waiting for its turn to be the main engine of that growth.
At the time of writing, XRP’s price is sitting at $1.2974.
