Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse May Be Worth $10B

In a post on X, Fox Business reporter Charles Gasparino has raised questions about Ripple and its CEO Brad Garlinghouse. According to Gasparino, Garlinghouse may now be worth an estimated $10 billion—yet the firm’s financial disclosures remain largely concealed from public view.

Fox Business reporter Charles Gasparino has raised questions about Ripple and its CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s lack of transparency.

According to a post on X, Gasparino said that with the recent price surge in XRP, the net worth of Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s CEO, is now around $10 billion, making him one of the richest people in the country.

However, Gasparino questioned why no one has seen a public filing from Ripple just on how much money the company makes. He added that Ripple is a business in the traditional sense—it’s not a blockchain experiment.

Garlinghouse and Ripple did not respond to requests for comment.

Gasparino’s remarks come amid another significant legal development for Ripple. This week, Garlinghouse revealed that the US Securities and Exchange Commission has ended its appeal of Judge Analisa Torres’s July ruling in Manhattan, which found that XRP sold on public exchanges does not meet the legal definition of a security.

Garlinghouse’s inclusion in the Top 100 richest people in the US, and the fact that it’s largely driven by the cryptocurrency surge, is sure to spark interest especially with the Senate Banking Committee as they prepare to question Paul Atkins, the former SEC Commissioner and Trump administration official, for his role leading the SEC.

Atkins’ confirmation hearing is set for March 27, where he’s expected to face lawmakers like US Senator Elizabeth Warren, known for her stance on securities law and cryptocurrency.

According to Gasparino, one key question for Atkins and the SEC on the Ripple case going forward is how retail trading of XRP passes the decentralization test, according to the SEC. But no one has seen any financials on Ripple from the company itself, which is surprising considering its founders’ wealth.

Since it’s a private company issuing a token integral to its operations, should it be disclosing traditional financials under securities laws? This question may arise during Atkins’ confirmation.

If Garlinghouse’s net worth of $10 billion is accurate, he would be included in the Top 100 wealthiest people in the US, an aspect that lawmakers like Senator Warren, a critic of cryptocurrency, might highlight during the upcoming confirmation hearing.

Garlinghouse’s personal sales of XRP, spanning 2017 to 2020, were previously mentioned in court documents from the SEC lawsuit against Ripple. These sales, totaling $164.26 million, were largely executed on foreign exchanges, with the highest single-year sale reaching $42.27 million in 2017 through a self-directed transaction on Bitstamp.

The remaining portion of the $600 million in personal, unregistered XRP sales cited by the SEC are attributed to Chris Larsen, Ripple’s executive chairman and co-founder. Meanwhile, the initial founders—Arthur Britto, Jed McCaleb, and Larsen—collectively received 20 billion XRP when the token was created.

Ripple later locked 55 billion XRP in escrow in 2017, aiming to provide predictability around token supply.

At press time, XRP traded at $2.41.