Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse offered his most positive statements about Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris to date on Wednesday, while attempting to toe his company’s official line of neutrality on the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
During an onstage appearance at D.C. Fintech Week this afternoon, the crypto executive appeared to compliment what he saw as the sophistication of Harris’ approach to digital assets, in contrast with the strategy of her election opponent, former president Donald Trump.
“Obviously, Trump came out early and very aggressively… and said he’s the crypto president,” Garlinghouse said. “Kamala and Team Harris have been more nuanced.”
The Ripple chief went on to laud Harris for announcing last week that she would support a crypto regulatory framework if elected, calling the statement “most constructive.”
While Garlinghouse conceded that Vice President Harris has been “relatively quiet” about crypto compared with Trump, he framed the Democratic nominee as a “pro-technology” leader with roots in Silicon Valley.
Thus, even though the Ripple CEO insisted that the upcoming presidential election will be the most crucial in crypto’s history, he maintained that either a Harris or Trump victory would spell good news for the industry compared to the current regime.
“I think no matter what happens, we’re going to see a reset, we’re going to see forward progress,” Garlinghouse said. “No matter what happens, we’re going to leave behind a failed approach from the Biden Administration.”
In recent days, Ripple has come under increased scrutiny within the industry for its leadership’s political allegiances. On Monday, one the company’s co-founders, Chris Larsen, announced that he personally donated an additional $10 million worth of XRP to aid Harris’ campaign, after donating $1 million in August. XRP is a cryptocurrency that Ripple’s founders helped create and that the company utilizes in its money-moving tools.
Some in the industry criticized the donations, given Trump’s months of campaign trail appeals to crypto projects and holders. Nic Carter, an emerging tech-focused VC and a prominent voice on Crypto Twitter, lambasted Larsen’s financial backing of Harris as “completely baffling.”
But Garlinghouse quickly chimed in to support the contribution, emphasizing that he respected the right of any Ripple employee to support “whomever they think is best to lead the U.S.”
The Ripple CEO maintained on Wednesday that he would not endorse either presidential candidate before November. But the position he’s staked out for himself, and for Ripple, has already made a few waves within the industry.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
