Ripple CEO Calls Stablecoins Crypto’s “ChatGPT Moment” as Adoption Surges

Ripple CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, believes stablecoins are shaping up to be crypto’s “Chat GPT moment” as businesses and institutions look to the technology to reduce costs and improve efficiency, potentially leading to broader adoption of blockchain-based technology over time.

Garlinghouse said that he’s seen a substantial shift towards stablecoins from big business, with many now looking to embrace a stablecoin-focussed strategy, speaking on Fox Business’s morning show Mornings With Maria on March 27.

You have boards of directors and CEOs of companies, whether it’s Fortune 500 or Fortune 2000, they’re asking their treasurers, they’re asking their CFOs, hey, what are we doing with stablecoins.

Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple CEO

Big business’s embrace of stablecoins could just be the beginning of a much broader, long-term adoption of crypto-based technology by big business, and indeed all sectors of the economy, according to Garlinghouse.

“You had US$33 trillion of stablecoin trades last year — this is, as a Citibank analyst called it, the ChatGPT moment of crypto. People are seeing stablecoins as the entry point into other blockchain-based and crypto-based solutions.”

In January, Bloomberg Intelligence predicted that stablecoin flows could increase to as much as US$56.6 trillion (AU$83 trillion) by 2030 — a level of adoption that would see stablecoins among the most important payment tools for the global economy.

Currently, close to 90% of stablecoin volume is accounted for by just two coins — Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC. Ripple’s native stablecoin, RLUSD, launched in late 2024 and has since grown substantially, currently ranking tenth-largest by market cap at just over US$1.4 billion (AU$2 billion) according to CoinGecko.

Over the past year, Ripple has been busy fleshing out its stablecoin infrastructure, acquiring the prime brokerage business Hidden Road (rebranded as Ripple Prime) for a reported US$1.25 billion (AU$1.8 billion) and the corporate treasury platform GTreasury (rebranded as Ripple Treasury) for US$1 billion (AU$1.4 billion).

Garlinghouse said both acquisitions were performing “way ahead” of Ripple’s forecasts for Q1 of 2026, adding that Ripple Prime has tripled its revenue run rate since the acquisition.

Related: Ripple Tests Stablecoin Trade Finance in Monetary Authority of Singapore Sandbox

Garlinghouse Now Says CLARITY Act Will Be Signed By End of May

Following delays and difficulties getting the CLARITY Act over the line, Garlinghouse has updated his prediction for when the bill will be signed into law, having earlier predicted it’ll be done by the end of April.

“I predicted we’d see the CLARITY Act signed by the end of April — I’m gonna say the likelihood of that has gone down, but I’ll say by the end of May. So give me an extra 30 days,” Garlinghouse said.

Everyone’s still at the table, we’re still making progress. Ultimately there’s gonna have to be a compromise on this key issue of how rewards are managed.

Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple CEO

Garlinghouse said that when the CLARITY Act does get passed into law, it’ll give businesses and institutions confidence to go ahead and implement crypto-based tech without fear that rules and regulations could be flipped if or when a new anti-crypto regime administration enters the White House.

Related:US Senate Eyes April Vote on Landmark Crypto Market Structure Bill

“What it does is it unlocks the banks in the United States who’ve been a little bit fearful about ‘Should I lean into this industry? What if there is a future Gary Gensler and I have to unwind things?’”

If we get that [the CLARITY Act] codified into law it’s an unlock for the banks around the world, particularly in the United States.

Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple CEO