Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, said in an interview with Bloomberg that the company would “welcome” an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on the XRP (XRP) token.
On Feb. 20, Garlinghouse shared the company’s stance on a potential XRP ETF. The CEO highlighted that they “would certainly welcome it.” The executive also said that it is inevitable that there will be multiple ETFs around different tokens. Furthermore, Garlinghouse also predicted that the space would see ETFs around baskets, which the executive believes will “diversify the risks” for investors.
The CEO said that “it only makes sense” to have other ETFs. He even compared the current situation with the spot Bitcoin ETFs to the early days of the stock market. Garlinghouse believes that investors do not want to be exposed to a single stock only but want to diversify their investments.
When asked if Ripple is currently in talks with the ETF issuers, the CEO refused to comment. However, Garlinghouse reiterated the company's position: “We think it makes sense for the XRP community overall.”
The Ripple executive also spoke about the “long-term view.” According to Garlinghouse, digital assets are all about creating utility and solving real-world problems. He explained that Bitcoin (BTC) has done this well as a store of value. On the other hand, Garlinghouse argued that XRP is “ideal for payments.”
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Apart from the potential of an XRP ETF, Garlinghouse commented on Ripple's recent acquisition of Standard Custody & Trust. On Feb. 13, the firm acquired the United States-based digital asset custody provider. The company is a qualified custodian in accordance with federal legislation and offers custody and escrow services under a charter granted by the New York State Department of Financial Services.
Garlinghouse said custody is one of the basic building blocks around crypto that would make it successful. He explained that institutions need to be able to custody their own digital assets and their customers’ crypto as well. The Ripple CEO said that Standard Custody & Trust’s license is an important part of their push for a “compliance first” mindset.
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