A major accusation has been leveled against Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple. Brady Swenson, co-founder of the crypto firm Swan, publicly called Garlinghouse “corrupt” on X (formerly Twitter). Swenson’s accusations paint a picture of a CEO prioritizing personal profit over investor interests.
The Accusations
Swenson’s criticisms center around several key points:
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Insider Trading Allegations: Swenson claims Ripple executives, including Garlinghouse, sold massive amounts of XRP while simultaneously hyping up the token’s potential. He describes this as a classic “pump and dump” scheme, where they profited from artificially inflated prices.
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False Advertising: Swenson alleges Ripple misled investors by claiming major banks were using XRP when, in reality, they were mostly using RippleNet, a different payment system. He calls this deceptive marketing.
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SEC Lawsuit Spin: Swenson criticizes Garlinghouse for framing the SEC lawsuit as a political attack rather than accepting responsibility for selling unregistered securities. He argues this was a tactic to garner support from XRP holders.
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Decentralization Deception: Swenson points out the contradiction between Garlinghouse’s claims of XRP’s decentralization and the fact that Ripple controls a majority of the XRP supply, allowing them to manipulate the market.
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Broken Promises: Swenson accuses Garlinghouse of consistently making grand promises about XRP’s future that never materialize, all while insiders profit at the expense of retail investors.
The Trump Executive Order and Ripple’s Lobbying
Swenson’s accusations come on the heels of President Trump’s executive order establishing a national digital asset stockpile. Ripple has been actively lobbying to ensure XRP is included in this stockpile. This has drawn criticism, with some suggesting Ripple is using its influence to benefit XRP at the expense of other cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin.
Garlinghouse has defended Ripple’s lobbying efforts, arguing they aim for a broader crypto reserve that includes Bitcoin, aligning with Trump’s goal of boosting American tech companies.
However, Bitcoin maximalists remain skeptical, arguing that Bitcoin’s decentralized nature makes it the ideal candidate for a national reserve, unlike XRP, which is heavily controlled by Ripple.
The Aftermath
Garlinghouse hasn’t yet responded to Swenson’s accusations. At the time of writing, XRP was trading at $3.10.
