Recently, in an interview with 60 Minutes, Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, shared his thoughts on former President Donald Trump’s changing views on cryptocurrency.
When CBS journalist Margaret Brennan asked about Trump’s 2021 comments, he called Bitcoin a “scam,” Garlinghouse reflected on how much has changed. Back then, Trump criticized Bitcoin, saying it threatened the U.S. dollar and its global dominance.
But Garlinghouse focused on Trump’s latest position, saying, “It’s clear that Donald Trump embraced crypto and crypto embraced Donald Trump.” He highlighted that in his 2024 election campaign, Trump was vocal about supporting crypto, even pledging to take action to help grow the industry.
The election victory of Trump marked a turning point for the crypto world. After winning, Trump started acting on his promises by appointing crypto-friendly figures like Paul Atkins to replace Gary Gensler as the Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This move helped push Bitcoin’s price above $100,000 for the first time, reaching an all-time high of over $103,600.
Garlinghouse also pointed to the power of the crypto community in the 2024 elections. The Fairshake PAC, which supports friendly candidates, had an enormous success rate with 85% of its supported winning races.
This was all non-partisan, helping both Republicans and Democrats via crypto’s support. As Garlinghouse proudly declares, “Crypto helped pick those senators like Elissa Slotkin, Ruben Gallego, and those other Democrats.”
Garlinghouse sees this increased influence on politics as only the beginning: “More and more lawmakers on the left and the right are adopting and embracing digital assets.”
