Miami Beach, FL – Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s CEO, has been closely following the US Senate’s progress on the crypto market structure bill, and he said it’s not a “done deal” as the next two weeks could be crucial to the legislation’s options.
“If it doesn’t happen, then I think the likelihood will drop precipitously,” Garlinghouse said Tuesday at Consensus 2026 in Miami. But he said he still thinks it’s likely to happen, and the next moment will be the scheduling of the Senate Banking Committee’s long-awaited hearing to “mark up” the bill and move it to the next stage.
Senators at the center of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act negotiations last week unveiled the latest compromise language on a key issue — stablecoin dividends — that is expected to allow the banking panel to schedule the hearing.
“Do I think it’s perfect? Hell, no,” Garlinghouse said. “There are compromises and compromises, but I think clarity is better than chaos.”
The stablecoin compromise aims for a balance that allows crypto companies to pursue certain rewards programs without offering yield-bearing stablecoin accounts similar to banks’ interest-bearing deposits that drive US lending. Crypto insiders generally agree that’s acceptable, but a coalition of banking groups said this week that the deal “falls short.”
The Ripple CEO said the importance of the Clarity Act lies in the permanence of supporting crypto-friendly policies already established at the US Securities and Exchange Commission by Chairman Paul Atkins, who replaced a crypto-opposition predecessor, Gary Gensler. Without a law, Atkins’ successor could simply change those policies.
“There will be another Paul Atkins after Paul, who we don’t know which side of this argument they will fall on,” Garlinghouse said. “Hopefully the trend line has moved far enough that we’re not going back no matter what, but codified into law means you kind of can’t go back.”
Also at Consensus, Garlinghouse predicted that the stablecoin market will reach $3 trillion by 2031. Ripple Labs launched its own stablecoin, in 2024. The current market is around $320 billion, led by Tethers USDT.
