Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse noted Fairshake, the major political action committee that was funded by crypto bigwigs in the 2024 U.S election, was started to challenge Securities Exchange Commission’s Gary Gensler.

Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple Labs, a blockchain-based global payments solution, met with CBS News on Dec. 6 to discuss political action committees and their influence on the U.S. Presidential election. The CEO said that If SEC chair Gary Gensler hadn’t aggressively regulated cryptocurrencies, Fairshake, a federal-independent expenditure-only committee registered with the Federal Election Commission, wouldn’t exist. He said, “I’m not sure Fairshake would exist“.

The antidote to the ‘war on crypto’

Speaking to CBS News on Dec. 6, Garlinghouse said the Fairshake was a joint response to what he terms to be a “war on crypto,” as the SEC significantly worked up its regulatory crackdowns during Gensler’s period. In fact, the agency had filed more than 120 lawsuits against crypto companies, including Ripple Labs, Uniswap, Terraform Labs, Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken-citing violations of securities laws. According to Garlinghouse, the enforcement actions created an unlikely unity within the crypto industry, giving rise to the PAC. 

So if there had been a different SEC chair than Gary Gensler…I’m not sure Fairshake would exist. Why did these companies come together and organize and say, ‘This matters’? It’s a reaction to a war on crypto.”
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple Labs.

On being asked whether the PAC is charged with a political motive in mind, the 53-year-old CEO elaborated that the mission of the PAC is not political influence but rather a framework to push for a balanced legal framework to ensure blockchain technology can scale and grow in the U.S. This aligns with President-elect Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign manifesto, which emphasized transforming the U.S. into a global leader in cryptocurrency in Nashville in Jul. 2024.

Garlinghouse further revealed that the company has spent over $150 million in legal expenses defending its position. The legal battle centered around whether XRP (XRP), the native token of Ripple, should be classified as exempt from the registration and disclosure requirements applicable to securities.