Brad Garlinghouse, also known as Bradley Kent Garlinghouse, is the CEO of Ripple Labs and an American businessman. Before joining Ripple, Garlinghouse had vast tech experience, making him an ideal CEO to lead it. This is a reason why, despite several setbacks, Ripple is coming in strong. This profile explores Garlinghouse’s former successes and his vision for Ripple XRP.   

Early Life and Education 

He finished his economics degree at the University of Kansas in 1995, and then later, he earned his MBA from the prestigious Harvard Business School in 1997. 

Pre-Ripple Career

Before joining Dialpad as its CEO in 2000, Garlinghouse had early stints at Home Network and Ventures, both companies that helped shape the dot-com revolution. In 2001, he resigned as the CEO of Dialpad and joined Yahoo. In 2003, he became the Senior Vice President (SVP) of Communications at Yahoo, running Flickr, Yahoo Mail, and Yahoo Messenger divisions. 

In 2009, he joined AOL as its President of Applications and Commerce until 2011. Before finally joining Ripple Labs, Garlinghouse served as the CEO of Hightail (formerly YouSendIt) and left after having a dispute with the board. During all this time, he also remained a Board Member of Animoto, Tonic Health, and Ancestry.com.

Transition into the Fintech sector

In several interviews, Garlinghouse revealed that upon hearing about Ripple from its co-founder Chris Larsen, he was immediately thrilled by its idea and decided to give it a go without having second thoughts. Garlinghouse made this decision despite not having any formal career in the world of Fintech. 

Joining Ripple as COO and Rise to CEO

Due to his overall excitement about the project, he joined as its Chief Operating Officer (COO) in 2015 and was promoted its CEO the very next year in 2016. Garlinghouse’s hard work paid off when Ripple raised $200 Million in its series C funding round, which is considered amongst the highest that a crypto-backed project has raised. 

Over the years, due to the vision of Garlinghouse, XRP which is the native cryptocurrency from Ripple is being used for transactions, especially the ones that are done across borders. In order to make this happen, Garlinghouse and his team of developers made sure the transactions were not only affordable but also extremely fast; making Ripple a liable alternative to SWIFT. 

Leadership of RippleNet’s Adoption

RippleNet is amongst many Ripple products that Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse built to ensure its more extensive adaptation. RippleNet is a global payments network, that connects banks and other financial institutions globally by allowing faster, cheaper, and secure cross-border payments with settling transactions in real-time. Something that’s revolutionary in the financial world.   

Right after its development, RippleNet formed strategic partnerships with various financial institutions and banks, including Standard Chartered, Money Gram, Santander, and American Express. This has helped to increase the overall legitimacy of XRP, making it seem more than a cryptocurrency. 

Vision for Ripple and XRP Future

Garlinghouse’s vision is to make Ripple an attractive option for cross-border payments and a store of value. Also, he aims to collaborate with multiple governments globally to ensure Ripple’s regulatory compliance, something that he believes will help to establish trust in XRP, especially in the long run. 

Besides its’ uses in banking and finance, XRP is gaining popularity in other sectors mainly gaming and e-commerce. Forte, a renowned blockchain-based gaming platform, is one such example, as it uses XRP to create a better in-game economy. 

Advocacy for Cryptocurrency Innovation 

Brad Garlinghouse Ripple’s CEO is one of the strongest advocates for the adaptation of blockchain technology, especially in the financial sector. He thinks blockchain can make money transactions safer, transparent, and faster. He’s also a member of the Linux Foundation and World Economic Forum and uses both these platforms to talk about blockchain technology. 

He is also working with banks to help bring blockchain technology to the mainstream. Lastly, he’s a strong advocate for regulatory clarity for blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, which he constantly talks about at international conferences. 

Legal Challenges and Controversies

As Ripple’s CEO, Garlinghouse has been on the frontline of Ripple Vs. SEC, a case that started in 2020 over Ripple selling unregistered securities. In July 2023, a US Federal Court agreed that the company’s crypto token is not a security, allowing it to be relisted on exchanges. However, the battle is still not over and may cost Ripple more than $200 million.

The high cost of this battle which does not seem to be ending anytime soon, is something many critics say is due to the wrong policies of Brad Garlinghouse, especially his non-cooperation with the authorities. Despite criticism, Garlinghouse has remained optimistic, leading to significant victories in the courtroom.

Contact and Social Media

He is currently located in San Francisco, United States. He’s active on both his LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.