Ripple's Brad Garlinghouse: 'I'm Bullish on Bitcoin' — Here's Why He Thinks Now Is the Time to Be Greedy
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has made his position on Bitcoin crystal clear: he's bullish, and he believes the current market downturn presents a genuine opportunity for those willing to look past short-term volatility.
Garlinghouse appeared on CNBC's 'Squawk on the Street,' where he addressed a range of topics including Bitcoin's recent struggles, the role of utility in determining long-term crypto value, Michael Saylor's controversial buying strategy, and Ripple's own remarkable growth over the past year.
'Crypto is going to go through its cycles. Many asset classes do that,' the Ripple CEO remarked, framing the current bearish environment as a natural phase rather than a structural collapse. Drawing on Warren Buffett's famous investing principle — 'Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful' — Garlinghouse argued that the present moment calls for boldness. 'Now is the time, I think, to be greedy,' he stated.
On the question of what actually drives sustainable value in digital assets, Garlinghouse was unambiguous. He stressed that financial engineering is not the answer. 'I actually think what should come first is focusing on what's going to drive long-term value. Financial engineering does not drive long-term value,' he explained. Instead, he pointed to real-world utility as the defining factor: 'If it's solving a problem at scale for real customers, you're going to see liquidity, you're going to see demand, you're going to see trust in that asset. Those things compound in a positive way.'
This perspective informed his criticism of MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor's approach to accumulating Bitcoin through complex financial instruments. Garlinghouse suggested that Saylor's strategy added excitement during the bull run but is now amplifying losses on the way down. 'I think team Michael Saylor wasn't focused on the right stuff, and that has hurt the overall market,' he said. His comments came as preferred stock tied to Strategy's Bitcoin acquisition model dropped to record lows.
When the conversation turned to Bitcoin's core utility, Garlinghouse described BTC as having firmly established itself as 'digital gold.' He cited a well-known example involving the German Central Bank, which required two years and billions of dollars to physically transport 300 tons of gold. Bitcoin, he argued, operates on an entirely different scale of efficiency. 'If you wanted to move $300 billion of Bitcoin, you could do that in a pretty reasonable, quick way,' he noted.
As for Ripple and XRP specifically, Garlinghouse emphasized that XRP's value proposition remains squarely focused on payments — leveraging the speed and efficiency of its blockchain to serve institutional clients. He revealed that Ripple cleared an extraordinary $16 trillion in payments through its prime brokerage business last year, partly driven by acquisitions. Notably, nearly none of that volume passed through a digital asset — which Garlinghouse sees not as a weakness, but as a massive untapped opportunity to bridge traditional finance with blockchain-based infrastructure.
'The opportunity is to introduce and bring in traditional finance,' he stated, underscoring Ripple's ambitions as both a payments company and a catalyst for broader crypto adoption in institutional settings.
Garlinghouse's appearance offered a measured but optimistic take on where the crypto market stands — one rooted in fundamentals, utility, and long-term thinking over speculative financial maneuvering.