Garlinghouse Reacts to Senate Defeat
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has sharply criticized the failure of the CLARITY Act to advance in the U.S. Senate, calling the outcome a major disappointment for the crypto industry and American consumers.
The Senate voted 49-50 on September 15 on the procedural motion needed to advance the legislation. The measure required 60 votes, meaning the CLARITY Act did not move forward to full Senate consideration.
Garlinghouse said Ripple’s team had worked extensively to get the legislation across the finish line. He also argued that the effort was larger than Ripple itself, framing the bill as an attempt to establish clearer rules for consumers and the broader digital asset industry.
The Ripple CEO said the outcome could weaken America’s position in the global crypto market. His argument reflects a long-standing industry concern that regulatory uncertainty could push companies, investment and talent toward jurisdictions with clearer digital-asset rules.
Garlinghouse also called for a post-mortem on why the legislation failed. He blamed Democratic opposition and argued that political considerations had been elevated over what he considers sound crypto policy.
That characterization is disputed by Democratic lawmakers. Critics of the legislation have raised concerns about ethics provisions, consumer protections, illicit finance and President Donald Trump’s financial interests in the crypto industry. Senator Elizabeth Warren, for example, said she supports crypto legislation but believes the current CLARITY Act does not adequately address those issues.
Ripple Looks Beyond Congress
Despite the legislative setback, Garlinghouse said there is still reason for optimism about the U.S. crypto market. He pointed specifically to the SEC under Chair Paul Atkins and the CFTC under Chair Michael Selig as agencies that can continue developing regulatory rules even without a new market-structure law.
That possibility is already part of the regulatory landscape. SEC Chair Atkins has said the agency will continue working on crypto rules covering areas such as issuance, custody and transfer-agent modernization even if Congress does not pass the CLARITY Act.
For Ripple, the distinction is significant. A comprehensive law could have established clearer boundaries between the SEC and CFTC, but agency-level rulemaking could still reduce some uncertainty around digital assets while Congress remains divided.
Related: Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz Says XRP Could Surpass Bitcoin With One Major Catch
Garlinghouse also argued that the legislative setback does not change Ripple’s commercial position. He said the company’s business remains strong, pointing to demand from traditional finance and the wider digital-asset market.
Ripple has spent years building a business that extends beyond XRP trading. Its operations include payments infrastructure and institutional digital-asset services, giving the company an international footprint that is less dependent on a single piece of U.S. legislation.
The immediate market implications are broader than Ripple. The Senate failure removes a major near-term path toward comprehensive crypto market-structure legislation and leaves U.S. companies facing continued uncertainty. Bitcoin also fell following the vote as investors reacted to the setback.
Related: Ripple CEO Points to $11B Gold Move as a Case for Crypto
The political window for another attempt is also becoming tighter, with the November midterm elections approaching and Congress facing a limited legislative calendar. Reuters reported that the bill is now effectively on hold, making a rapid revival more difficult.
For XRP and Ripple, the failed vote is therefore a regulatory setback rather than a direct change to the company’s operations. Garlinghouse’s message is that Ripple will continue engaging with U.S. regulators while expanding its business globally. The bigger question now is whether Washington can eventually produce legislation that gives the industry the clarity both sides of the debate say they want.
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