Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has declared that the previous US administration’s regulatory campaign against crypto has been decisively defeated, citing courts, voters, and President Donald Trump as the architects of the shift.
“The ‘Anti-Crypto Army’ was defeated… by the courts… the voters. And Trump,” Garlinghouse said in a post on X, adding that the Biden-era enforcement strategy “never made policy, legal or political sense” and “only helped protect those that wanted to keep an old, often broken, system in place.”
Trump has made the regulatory reversal a centerpiece of his second term. “America is now the CRYPTO CAPITAL of the WORLD, and Builders and Entrepreneurs are coming BACK to the United States where they belong,” Trump posted on Truth Social. He has committed to making the US the “crypto capital of the world” since returning to the White House in 2025, and pledged to “future-proof” digital asset market structure legislation.
“It is a major Industry, and we must protect it,” Trump said. “The new Frontier of Finance is being Built in America, and ‘TRUMP’ will NEVER let Crypto down!”
The regulatory pivot marks a sharp reversal from the Biden administration’s multi-year crackdown, which prompted crypto firms and investors to relocate operations abroad. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has shifted away from a “regulation by enforcement” strategy, adopting a more welcoming posture over the past year and a half. In January 2025, the CFTC issued an order against cryptocurrency exchange Gemini with a $5 million penalty, though the agency indicated that the complaint “should not have been filed — and would not have been under current enforcement standards.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission has similarly dismissed multiple investigations and lawsuits against crypto firms. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioner Hester Peirce have stated that developing a clearer regulatory framework is now easier under the new approach. Both officials have called the crypto industry a top priority for a pro-innovation regulatory shift.
Ripple has positioned itself to benefit from the new environment. The company submitted a letter to the SEC’s Crypto Task Force requesting clarification on the regulatory treatment of payment stablecoins, crypto assets classified as non-securities, and tokenized securities. The request reflects ongoing uncertainty around which digital assets fall under SEC jurisdiction, a question that has been central to regulatory disputes since former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s tenure.
The total crypto market capitalization reached $2.44 trillion on a one-week chart, underscoring the sector’s scale as a policy priority.
