Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, believes that Gary Gensler will get the boot next year, regardless of the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.
The so-called "gentleman’s bet" is rooted in Ripple's multi-year legal battle with the SEC, which began in 2020.
The SEC continues to receive criticism even after a New York court ruled in favour of Ripple and reduced the payable fine from $2 billion to $125 million.
Meanwhile, Garlinghouse believes that crypto regulation will become more bipartisan as the election nears.
The CEO of Ripple Labs, Brad Garlinghouse, recently made an interesting prediction concerning Gary Gensler, the current chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
During a press conference at the Korea Blockchain Week 2024 in Seoul, Garlinghouse stated that he believes that Gensler’s days in office are about to come to an end.
Even more interesting is that Garlinghouse believes this will happen no matter who wins the upcoming November election.
What moved the Ripple CEO to say so, and why might this prediction actually happen?
Garlinghouse didn’t mince words when he made the prediction. According to a report from the Korean Herald, the Ripple CEO stated that he believes Gary Gensler's role as the SEC chair will not last beyond the upcoming U.S. election. Garlinghouse called this a "gentleman's bet"—a wager that Gensler’s sacking or resignation is inevitable, regardless of whether a Republican or Democrat occupies the White House come November.
Garlinghouse at the conference
This is especially significant, considering that the two via Ripple and the SEC have locked horns several times since 2020.
It all started with the SEC accusing Ripple of selling unregistered securities in the form of XRP—an accusation that eventually exploded into a $1.3 billion lawsuit against the company.
As mentioned earlier, the Ripple-SEC legal battle started in 2020 and eventually resulted in one of the longest regulatory battles in crypto history.
Recently, a New York court put an end to the tug-of-war by ordering the defendant to pay a $125 million fine—a massive reduction from the original $2 billion the SEC demanded.
Even though the outcome was more favourable for Ripple than expected, the company continues to push against the SEC, with criticism from Ripple Executives like Stuart Alderoty, Chris Larsen, and others constantly popping up on Twitter.
Garlinghouse's prediction that Gensler will be sacked only shows the company's disapproval of the agency's approach to regulating crypto.
During his talk at the conference, Garlinghouse also mentioned the current state of crypto regulation in the U.S.
He argued that crypto should be free from political differences and that the industry is likely to become more bipartisan as the election approaches.
This is interesting, considering that Trump and the Republicans have taken a more crypto-friendly stance than Harris and the Democrats.
Garlinghouse expressed optimism that as the blockchain space matures, stakeholders from either side will increasingly collaborate to support the sector.
In the meantime, Ripple continues to focus on expansion, especially in Asia.
Garlinghouse announced a new Ripple partnership with Yonsei University in Korea during the same conference.
So far, the institution has now become the 58th member of the company’s University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI).
Overall, as the 2024 presidential elections approach, the overall winner remains to be seen, along with whether Garlinghouse’s prediction will come true.
And if it does come true, the effects of this change in leadership would be interesting to watch.
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