Ripple CEO Makes Intriguing Confirmation About Epstein and XRP

At the XRP Conference in Sydney, Australia, in early 2026, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and President Monica Long took to the stage for a panel titled “XRP As the North Star.”

What followed was a candid discussion about the forces that shaped Ripple’s early years, and what the release of the Epstein files revealed about them. Crypto pundit Mr Pool (@MrPool_Q17th) shared the clip on X, drawing the XRP army’s attention to the exchange.

Long opened by recalling the hostility Ripple faced in its early days. She described “absolute vitriol” directed at the company and a persistent sense that something deliberate was behind it. “It just felt like there was this mysterious dark cloud, this headwind that we couldn’t quite put a finger on,” she said.

Garlinghouse Points to the Epstein Files

Garlinghouse connected that hostility to a specific name: Joichi Ito, former director of the MIT Media Lab. Ripple co-founder and chairman Chris Larson had long believed Ito was working against XRP. Garlinghouse admitted he had not always taken that view seriously.

That skepticism changed after the Epstein files became public. Garlinghouse noted that Gary Gensler, the former SEC chair who pursued an aggressive lawsuit against Ripple, had ties to the MIT Media Lab. The Epstein files added weight to what Larson had argued for years.

“They Were Afraid of Us”

“They were afraid of us,” Garlinghouse said. That was one of his strongest statements. “They were afraid of us because the technology was ahead of its time, and it was a threat.” He credited Larson’s early instincts, revealing that Larson used to tell him that heavy opposition was a signal of significance.

“People are hating on you. You’re onto something big,” Larson reportedly said. Garlinghouse now agrees. “We’re onto something massive,” he told the Sydney audience.

The Conspiracy Against Ripple and XRP

Earlier in 2026, a rumor circulated in the XRP community that Gensler was directed to go after Ripple and XRP. Garlinghouse’s own words suggest the resistance Ripple faced was coordinated and sustained by powerful people.

The Epstein files came with many revelations, and Larson’s long-standing suspicions now read less like conspiracy and more like early intelligence. However, XRP came out on top, with regulatory clarity and a global network of institutions and retail users.

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