Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse believes the approval of several Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States will pave the way for similar cryptocurrency investment products to launch in 2024.
Speaking to CNBC correspondent Arjun Kharpal at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 16, Garlinghouse stopped short of explicitly predicting an XRP (XRP) ETF would be approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but he expects an Ether (ETH) ETF to get the green light in the near future.
“I think it’s a certainty. I’m not going to put a horizon on the time, but I think there will be other ETFs for sure,” Garlinghouse said in the interview at the Filecoin Sanctuary, which borders the World Economic Forum compound in Davos.
The Ripple CEO responded to a line of questioning focused on the SEC’s high-profile approval of Bitcoin ETFs, despite any outright endorsement of Bitcoin by the agency’s chair, Gary Gensler.
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Garlinghouse criticized Gensler’s regulatory approach by referring to an expression that suggests “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome:”
“I think the chair of the SEC, Gary Gensler, has become a political liability in the United States. I think he’s not acting in the best interests of the citizenry. He’s not acting in the best interest of the long-term growth of the economy.”
Garlinghouse also noted that the SEC had faced mounting pressure from the U.S. justice system in regard to its regulatory approach to the cryptocurrency sector:
“The reality is we have a Bitcoin ETF only because a U.S. court said to the SEC, ‘You’re being arbitrary and capricious in your application of the law.‘ What would be sad is if every ETF had to go through that same journey and for Gary Gensler to get smacked down by the U.S. court system again, but that might be necessary,” Garlinghouse added.
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“I think the stablecoin market has surprised people in some ways in terms of solving a real need. I think it only makes sense for there to be regulatory clarity around that. I think that’s good for the whole industry.”
As Cointelegraph reported, Bitcoin ETFs generated $1.8 billion in total trading volume on Jan. 16, with Grayscale, BlackRock and Fidelity accounting for $1.6 billion. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas highlighted a glaring contrast between the $450 million in trading volume of all 500 ETFs launched in the U.S. in 2023 on the same day.
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