Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has predicted that Bitcoin’s mega explosion to the elusive $200,000 level is possible, as regulators in the United States have swiftly changed their approach to regulating crypto. “I think $200,000 is not unreasonable,” Garlinghouse told Fox Business on April 11, adding that he would not forecast the price of XRP, which powers the XRP Ledger, as it is “too close to home.” The apex cryptocurrency was recently changing hands around $84,183, representing a 2.1% gain over the past seven days, as per crypto data provider CoinGecko . The Ripple boss remarked that he avoids making short-term Bitcoin predictions as he is mainly focused on long-term macro trends. He expects macro tailwinds and the reversal of US regulatory animosity to continue propelling the crypto market higher: “I think about what the macro trends are playing out for the crypto industry, for the XRP ecosystem. XRP has been the best-performing major crypto in the last 90 days. We think about it as, what does that look like over the next three years? I’m very optimistic.” Regulatory Changes Reshaping the Crypto Industry In Garlinghouse’s view, people underestimate the implications of the US economy on the crypto market. He highlighted that America, under President Donald Trump, has shifted from “headwinds, hostility” to “tailwinds,” yet the market hasn’t fully priced in the bullish impact of this regulatory change. “The largest asset managers in the world go from relatively frozen out or hostile to now a friendly market. This has sensible regulation that is thinking about pro-innovation here at home,” he opined. Garlinghouse credited David Sacks , Scott Bessent , and the newly confirmed Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman, Paul Atkins , for creating a more crypto-friendly regulatory scene. With the SEC under transformed leadership in the Trump administration, the regulatory landscape is undergoing tremendous changes. For instance, high-profile lawsuits against Coinbase , Robinhood , and Ripple have either been settled or dropped, signaling a new chapter for the industry. Commenting on Ripple’s recent $1.25 billion acquisition of prime broker Hidden Road , Garlinghouse claimed the company would not have signed the deal a year ago because of the hostile regulatory environment under the Biden-Harris administration. He suggests the acquisition could allow Wall Street giants to access crypto through traditional infrastructure. “This allows even larger institutions like BlackRock, like the biggest Wall Street financial institutions, to come into this market in a way they understand with a safer prime broker to help clear transactions and a bigger balance sheet to do that. It’s good for the whole industry,” he postulated.
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