In an X post, Fox Business Reporter Charles Gasparino raised questions about Ripple and its CEO Brad Garlinghouse. According to Gasparino, Garlinghouse may now be worth an estimated $10 billion.
Ripple CEO is facing scrutiny
“The recent surge in XRP's prices has led to a net worth of Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, at around $10 billion, making him one of the wealthiest people in the country.” I wrote it. “Even so, why didn't everyone see the public from Ripple about how much money a company makes? Ripple is, after all, a business in the traditional sense. It's not an experiment with blockchain.”
He further suggested that this lack of transparency could be a crucial issue for Paul Atkins, a former SEC commissioner appointed by President Donald Trump to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins is scheduled to appear before the Senate Banking Committee on March 27, 2025, and is expected to face lawmakers like US Senator Elizabeth Warren at his confirmation hearing.
“This will be an important question from the SEC regarding the upcoming Paul Atkins and the Ripple incident. XRP retail transactions will pass decentralization tests, Gasparino wrote.
Garlinghouse and Ripple have not publicly commented on Gasparino's remarks. The company is known for its quarterly release of XRP Markets reports, but details the status of Token Holdings and certain escrow accounts, but does not publish comprehensive financial statements like public companies. Because the company is private, the US Securities Act does not require you to submit applications such as 10 ks or 10-QS.
Gasparino's post arrives in another important legal development of Ripple. Just this week, Garlinghouse revealed that the Securities and Exchange Commission has concluded its appeal for the judge's trial in the July 2023 ruling in Manhattan.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, widely considered a critic of cryptocurrency, is considered a potential linchpin at upcoming confirmation hearings. Gasparino noted that Massachusetts Senators could push Atkins to address whether Ripple, as a private company that issues business-critical tokens, must disclose traditional finances under the securities law.
If Garlinghouse's net worth is really $10 billion, he hoveres around the 100th spot in Forbes' US assets rankings. Initially allocated to 100 billion units, Ripple's tokens have repeatedly questioned how profits flow to corporate leadership and early founders over the years.
Public records are sparse, but court documents in the SEC's case against Ripple shed some light on the private sale of Garlinghouse's XRP. Between 2017 and 2020, Garlinghouse sold an estimated $164.26 million worth of XRP, with over 90% of its sales coming from foreign exchange. It had a top year sales in 2017, winning around $42.27 million in one voluntary transaction via BitStamp.
Ripple's executive chairman and co-founder Chris Larsen reportedly described the remainder of the $600 million of personal unregistered XRP sales cited in the SEC lawsuit. Meanwhile, the first founders Arthur Britto, Jed McCaleb and Larsen won 2 billion XRP when the token was created. Ripple aims to lock 55 billion XRP in escrow in 2017, providing predictability regarding token supply.
At the time of press, the XRP traded for $2.41.
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