Ripple CEO Gets XRP Tattoo, Showing “1000%” Confidence in Token Future

Brad Garlinghouse, the Harvard-educated CEO of Ripple Labs, has declared his unwavering belief in XRP by tattooing the token’s logo on his arm.

On Sunday, the fintech chief responded to a popular crypto X account that pointed out the boldness of getting inked past 50, especially amid Ripple’s ongoing legal saga with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“When someone with a Harvard MBA gets a tattoo after 50 they have thought it through and know it’s only going to change in a good way,” the user wrote. The Ripple CEO responded, “1000%.”

Garlinghouse Tattoos Key XRP Court Ruling Date

Garlinghouse’s tattoo includes the XRP icon and July 13, 2023, the date when a court ruled Ripple’s XRP sales to institutional investors violated securities laws but cleared retail sales.

The ruling marked a turning point in Ripple’s legal fight with the SEC, which sued the company in December 2020 for alleged securities violations.

The Ripple CEO’s bold show of support comes as the company and SEC seek to resolve the case.

Last week, Garlinghouse announced the company is dropping its cross-appeal against the SEC.

“Ripple is dropping our cross-appeal, and the SEC is expected to drop their appeal, as they’ve previously said,” he said.

1000%

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) June 28, 2025

The development comes just a day after the US district court denied a joint request from Ripple and the SEC seeking an indicative ruling to reduce Ripple’s $125 million civil penalty and reverse the order labeling Ripple’s institutional XRP sales as securities transactions.

Judge Analisa Torres wrote that Ripple’s willingness to “push the boundaries” of the prior summary judgment indicated a likelihood of further violations.

Ripple’s chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty commented on the court’s decision, saying Ripple had two options: to drop its appeal or continue challenging the finding.

He emphasized that regardless of the path chosen, “XRP’s legal status as not a security remains unchanged,” reassuring investors that Ripple’s operations would proceed normally.

While the court ruled that Ripple’s programmatic sales of XRP did not constitute securities transactions, it held that Ripple’s institutional sales did.

XRP Ledger Rolls Out New Upgrade Amid Rising Interest

As reported, RippleX, the development arm of Ripple, has rolled out version 2.5.0 of the XRP Ledger, introducing several protocol upgrades aimed at strengthening network functionality and security.

RippleX engineer Mayukha Vadari has called the upgrade “possibly the best single lineup of amendments” ever released, introducing significant improvements to token management and transaction processing.

The XLS-85 amendment upgrades the escrow system by allowing third-party issued tokens, including stablecoins, and introduces multi-purpose tokens designed for institutional applications.

Another key change, XLS-56, enables wrapper transactions that can combine up to eight steps into a single action, aiming to lower failure rates in complex transaction flows and improve network efficiency for advanced use cases.

The new update comes as the XRP Ledger has recorded a surge in user activity, with the number of daily active addresses climbing from an average of 35,000 to over 295,000.