- The Ripple CEO made his debut on "60 Minutes" and touted XRP to millions of viewers.
- He later sparred on X with crypto sceptic John Reed Stark, who worked for the SEC.
- Whether cryptocurrencies are securities has been a long-running debate in the industry.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse got a bit of mainstream spotlight with an appearance on the CBS program “60 Minutes.”
On the show, Garlinghouse got a chance to present the case for cryptocurrencies to the show’s 10 million weekly viewers — he backed Ripple and detailed his battle with regulators over the XRP token.
The debut got testy, however, with the appearance of former Securities and Exchange Commission official John Reed Stark.
Stark, a crypto sceptic and backer of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, presented an opposing view on crypto utility, regulation, and XRP’s classification.
The debate spilled over onto X post-broadcast, where Garlinghouse criticised the programme.
He called Stark “Gensler’s shill,” prompting Stark to deny the label and counter, “I’ve never spoken, met, or even been in the same room as Gary Gensler.”
Even with presidential support on the horizon in the US, crypto’s most ardent defenders and fiercest critics remain at odds.
Clash of perspectives
In the “60 Minutes” segment, Garlinghouse emphasised crypto’s growing adoption and likened crypto scepticism to the early days of the Internet.
“How vastly they were proven wrong,” he said, referencing companies like JPMorgan now embracing blockchain and cryptocurrencies like XRP to move “billions of dollars of KYC-ed transactions for institutional customers.”
Stark, however, dismissed cryptocurrency as a “scourge,” claiming it has no utility and poses systemic risks.
“It’s not something that you want in your society. It has no utility. It’s just pure speculation,” he said.
Stark also addressed XRP directly, asserting that it is unquestionably a security.
“Judges have said over and over again that these are securities,” he said.
Is XRP a security?
Garlinghouse responded to the segment on X, expressing frustration with how “60 Minutes” handled the discussion.
“When discussing the SEC’s misguided lawsuit against Ripple, 60 Minutes shockingly left out that a Federal Judge ruled that XRP is not a security,” he wrote.
Garlinghouse was referring to a 2023 ruling from Judge Analisa Torres, who said Ripple’s institutional sales of XRP violated securities laws but its sales to retail investors did not constitute securities transactions.
XRP season
Last week, XRP hit a six-year high of $2.85, briefly surpassing Tether’s USDT to briefly claim the third spot by market value.
The token is up fourfold since Donald Trump’s presidential victory, as investors anticipate a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment.
Additional factors fueling the rally include XRP’s relisting on Robinhood and heightened trading activity from both Coinbase whales and South Korean retail investors.
Meanwhile, the prospect of XRP ETFs, with several filings already submitted, has analysts predicting further price growth.
