Meteoric Upsurge Brewing For XRP? Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Meets With Trump Amid ETF Hopes

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently sparked flames of excitement among the XRP Army after revealing that he had dinner with President-elect Donald Trump ahead of his inauguration later this month.

In November, Trump’s win sent crypto markets soaring. It seems crystal clear that the days of the U.S. government’s hostility toward the industry’s key players like Ripple are long gone.

But is XRP primed to bloom under crypto-friendly Trump as Ripple execs seek to curry the new president’s favor?

Garlinghouse’s $5 Million Dinner With Trump

In a recent X post, Ripple boss Brad Garlinghouse posted a photo of himself from a dinner with incoming U.S. President Donald Trump and Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty.

“Strong start to 2025,” wrote Garlinghouse.

Notably, the Ripple executives have kept the details of the late-night event with Trump under wraps. Meanwhile, the development has attracted commentary from various crypto community members.

Cardano creator Charles Hoskinson, for instance, voiced his disinterest in such photo ops. Instead, Hoskinson emphasized the importance of influencing crypto regulations via meaningful policy change rather than high-profile meetings.

“I’m not looking for a photo. I’m looking for meaningful, bipartisan policy change,” the IOK CEO opined.

Hoskinson went on to claim that Ripple had shelled out $5 million for the lavish dinner with Trump. 

It’s worth mentioning that Ripple, one of the chief architects of crypto’s historic 2024 political spending push, earlier gifted Trump’s inaugural fund $5 million worth of XRP.

Key Events To Unfold For XRP Under Trump Regime

Many in the cryptosphere expect the protracted legal battle between Ripple and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to finally come to an end as Trump is set to officially assume office.

Ripple is currently stuck in an appeals phase initiated by the SEC in October 2024. Legal experts have suggested that the appeal could soon be dismissed after the new SEC chairman Paul Atkins takes over from Gary Gensler, who has been seen as crypto-skeptical.

Moreover, the XRP community expects the launch of U.S.-listed spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the Trump regime. As ZyCrypto covered earlier, Ripple President Monica Long has speculated that XRP ETFs are “likely to be next in line after Bitcoin and Ethereum”— both of which saw U.S. spot products greenlighted for trading on U.S. exchanges last year.

According to CoinGecko, XRP is trading for $2.28 as of press time, which is roughly four times its price before the U.S. elections in November. The coin smashed a local high of $2.82 in December before cooling off alongside other crypto majors such as Bitcoin. The Ripple-promoted coin currently trades 32.7% down from its all-time high of $3.40 set in January 2018.