XRP Australia 2026 turned into an unexpected window into Washington’s inner workings when Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse revealed that former SEC Chair Gary Gensler had privately apologized and admitted, during a high‐level White House meeting, that he had been wrong about XRP. The revelation marks an unbelievable shift in tone after years of aggressive SEC enforcement and a bruising legal battle against Ripple.
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The Room Where It Happened
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse could hardly believe it himself as he recounted to a stunned audience the encounter he had with former SEC Chair Gary Gensler near the end of 2024 at the White House, during a meeting on digital asset policy, just after the SEC–Ripple legal battle had finally wrapped up. According to Garlinghouse’s account, Gensler approached him in private after the session ended: “He comes up to me and he says sorry,” Garlinghouse recalled, laughing, still visibly astonished:
“I’m sorry, I was wrong, and you guys have done an incredible job”
How the SEC vs Ripple Battle Defined XRP
The four-year legal battle between the SEC and Ripple began in December 2020, when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Ripple for allegedly raising $1.3 billion through an unregistered securities offering tied to XRP, framing XRP itself as an investment contract. This resulted in many exchanges delisting XRP, putting the token under a huge regulatory cloud for years and the Ripple vs. SEC case becoming a symbol for the entire crypto market.
However, in 2023, Ripple achieved a very important partial victory, when a judge ruled that, despise some issues with certain institutional sales, XRP was not a security when sold on public markets.
More Than An Apology
Gensler, who stepped down from his role as SEC Chair in early 2025, became the face of the enemy for many in crypto as he pushed an aggressive “regulation by enforcement” strategy against digital asset projects, with Garlinghouse himself previously labeling him a “political liability” and an “autocrat”.
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Therefore, his brief apology to Garlinghouse behind closed doors carries immense weight: it not only validates Ripple’s narrative that the SEC overreached but also hints at a broader shift in how Washington may choose to engage with XRP and the wider crypto industry going forward.
XRP's price trends to the downside on the daily chart. Source: XRPUSD on Tradingview
Cover image from ChatGPT, XRPUSD on TradingView
