Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Calls CFTC’s New Crypto Panel An ‘Olympic Roster’

• Ripple CEO Garlinghouse joined the inaugural CFTC Innovation Advisory Committee, calling it "the Olympic roster of crypto."
• The SEC proposed its first-ever crypto securities framework this week, with Chairman Atkins saying the work was "too important" to wait.
• Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said he was "pretty optimistic" the CLARITY Act would clear 60 votes in September.

Ripple (XRP) CEO Brad Garlinghouse joined the inaugural Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Innovation Advisory Committee alongside traditional finance giants on Friday, as the White House's crypto adviser said regulators were "locked and loaded" to push out rulemaking with or without the Digital Market Asset Clarity Act, also known as the CLARITY Act.

Garlinghouse called the gathering "the Olympic roster of crypto," saying the committee also included Nasdaq (NDAQ), New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Cboe Global Markets(CBOE), the Options Clearing Corporation and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). 

"But for a 'crypto' gathering, there were a LOT of TradFi players in the room," he wrote on X, adding that the attendees agreed "rules written for a different era aren't good enough" for consumers, business or innovation.

He credited the Trump administration, CFTC Acting Chairman Michael Selig and "a myriad of bold leaders in Congress" for bringing the industry closer to clear regulation than at any point since he first made the case in an open letter to Congress in 2019. 

XRP's price was up over 3% during the past 24 hours. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around XRP was in the 'extremely bullish' zone, while chatter stayed at 'extremely high’ levels over the past day.

'Locked And Loaded'

White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt told Coinage on Friday that he was "as bullish as optimistic” on the CLARITY Act's chances ahead of a cloture vote on September 15, when the Senate returns from recess. "Nothing motivates like a deadline," he added.

But Witt also made it clear that the administration was not waiting solely on Congress. If the CLARITY Act did not pass, "the agencies still have tremendous authority and powers available to them," he said. "They're kind of teed up, they're locked and loaded, ready to go... and we're going to be pushing out a lot of rulemaking."

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may have already started. On Tuesday, the agency proposed "Regulation Crypto Assets," its first-ever securities framework for digital asset fundraising, with Chairman Paul Atkins explicitly saying the work was "too important" to wait for legislation.

Additionally, Coinbase (COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong said on Thursday he was "pretty optimistic" the CLARITY Act would clear the 60-vote threshold in September, citing a Trump ethics offer that could help advance the bill past Democratic holdouts.

Read also: Michael Howell Says 2026 Won't Be A Big Year For Bitcoin, Sees 30-Year Yield Going Higher

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