Ripple’s Push for XRP as a US Crypto Reserve Stirs Controversy

Highlights:

• Ripple is facing backlash for pushing for its native token inclusion in the United States strategic Bitcoin reserve.
• The arguments about which digital assets will be added to the reserve broke out after Trump’s executive order signing.
• Most crypto top chiefs are against XRP’s inclusion because they do not consider it a worthy option.

It is no longer news that the United States president, Donald Trump, has signed the long-awaited executive order that entails establishing a national digital assets reserve. Therefore, it should not be surprising that debates about the cryptocurrencies that should make the reserve are making rounds within the crypto community.

While some market participants believe that the reserve should only contain Bitcoin, some other categories oppose the idea. According to the proponents, the strategic reserve should accommodate digital assets, which invariably implies more than one cryptocurrency. Among those pushing for a more diversified reserve, Ripple, XRP’s parent company, appeared to top the chart.

Ripple CEO Raises Eyebrows with Controversial Statement

In one of his most recent tweets, Ripple’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Brad Garlinghouse made a controversial statement, implying that XRP qualifies as a strategic reserve asset. The CEO said, “Unless you are choosing to ignore the core tenets of the POTUS campaign (which aggressively supports American companies and technologies), our efforts are actually INCREASING the likelihood of a crypto strategic reserve (which includes bitcoin) happening.

It is worth noting that the statement above was in response to an XRP critic, Pierre Rochard. Notably, Rochard had accused Ripple of posing a great obstacle against the establishment of a Strategic Bitcoin reserve. According to him, the cross-border company is aggressively lobbying against the reserve by enticing politicians with millions of dollars. He also said that the Fed, Treasury banks, or Elizabeth Warren have little or no role in delaying the reserve.

Still, in the same tweet, Rochard accused Ripple of attempting to frustrate Bitcoin mining during the Joe Biden-led administration. In his words, he said that by trying to attack BTC mining operations, Ripple hopes to protect their marketing narratives, which potentially paves the way for them to push for building central bank digital currencies CBDCs on the cross-border platform.

The biggest obstacle for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is not the Fed, Treasury, banks, or Elizabeth Warren.

It’s Ripple/XRP. They are aggressively lobbying against the SBR by throwing around $millions at politicians, desperately trying to derail it.

They did the same to…

— Pierre Rochard (@BitcoinPierre) January 23, 2025

Meanwhile, aside from Garlinghouse, another statement that elicited the backlash on XRP emanated from “JackTheRippler’s” tweet. He stated that Trump’s signing of the executive order happened a few days after he had met with Ripple’s CEO and its Chief Legal Officer (CLO), Stuart Alderoty. “If you still don’t see what is going to happen with XRP, then I can’t help you anymore,” JackTheRippler added in his tweet.

Donald Trump met Brad Garlinghouse and Stuart Alderoty a few weeks ago.

Today, Trump signed executive order promoting crypto, paving way for digital asset stockpile.

If you still don’t see what is going to happen with #XRP, then I can’t help you anymore. pic.twitter.com/F5IilHzNkN

— JackTheRippler ©️ (@RippleXrpie) January 23, 2025

Critics Point Out Why XRP’s Inclusion in the Strategic Reserve Will Not Happen

Reacting to the speculations, Rajat Soni, a financial analyst with over 100K followers, tagged XRP, a digital asset with zero use case. He said that stablecoins work better than XRP even though the XRP army continues to project the token in a positive light.

Going further, he stated that XRP is purely a distraction that prevents investors from accumulating Bitcoin. He also rubbished Ripple’s several collaborations, citing that they mean nothing when it comes to money.

XRP has no use case

I keep telling you this because I don't want you to get scammed

Stablecoins work better

The XRP army is going to keep telling you XRP is going somewhere because they're clueless

XRP is a distraction to keep you from accumulating Bitcoin

"Partnerships"… https://t.co/2kNsxViYDP

— Rajat Soni, CFA (@rajatsonifnance) January 24, 2025

Like every other market observer, Charles Hoskinson, Cardano’s blockchain founder, waded into the strategic reserves debate. However, unlike other people, he did not rubbish or counter XRP’s inclusion in the reserve. The Cardano founder only stated that the reserve would most likely start with only Bitcoin. His statement was in response to Ryan Selkis, who said he preferred the United States to have no strategic reserve than one with XRP’s inclusion.

America-First is not "American-Shitcoin First"

We'd be better off having no strategic reserve than one with a "endorsed" pieces of shit like XRP.

Still, I think Bitcoin is an exception.

1. Build different (with energy)
2. Lindy, mcap dominance, no insiders
3. Global traction https://t.co/eCNhKjpgSL

— Ryan Selkis (d/acc) 🇺🇸 (@twobitidiot) January 23, 2025