Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse says Clarity better than chaos as Senate hits key moment
The crypto market structure Clarity Act needs to get to its next step, a Senate hearing, this month to have a reasonable chance, Garlinghouse said.
What to know:
- Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse maintains hope for the Senate’s Clarity Act, the crypto industry’s top policy aim, but he said its survival depends on the next two weeks.
- The market structure bill is awaiting the scheduling of a Senate Banking Committee hearing, though bank lobbyists are still dragging their feet.
“If it doesn’t happen then, I think the likelihood is going to drop precipitously,” Garlinghouse said Tuesday at Consensus 2026 in Miami. But he said he still thinks it’s likely to happen, and the next moment will be the scheduling of the Senate Banking Committee’s long-awaited hearing to “mark up” the bill and advance it to the next stage.
Senators at the center of the negotiations over the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act revealed last week the latest compromise language on a major sticking point — stablecoin yield — that is expected to allow the banking panel to schedule the hearing.
“Do I think it’s perfect? Hell, no,” Garlinghouse said. “There’s tradeoffs and compromises, but I do think clarity is better than chaos.”
The stablecoin compromise aims for a balance that allows crypto firms to pursue certain rewards programs without offering yield-bearing stablecoin accounts that resemble banks’ interest-bearing deposits that fuel U.S. lending. Crypto insiders have generally agreed that it’s acceptable, but a coalition of banking groups said this week that the deal “falls short.”
