Ripple (XRP) Decentralization: Brad Garlinghouse Rejects Centralization Claims

Brad Garlinghouse Uses $148 Million Hack to Debunk Claims That Ripple Controls XRP

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has rejected assertions that his company controls the XRP Ledger, pointing to a roughly $148 million theft that Ripple could not reverse as evidence of the network's decentralization. Garlinghouse said Ripple operates about 2.4% of validators while independent parties run the remaining 97.6%, and that holding XRP tokens confers no governance rights.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has publicly rejected the long-standing claim that his company controls the XRP Ledger, using a $148 million theft from a Ripple founder as his central piece of evidence. Speaking at an industry event, Garlinghouse addressed a question from an attendee who noted that many people enter crypto because governments print money and debase currencies, and asked whether XRP's concentration among a single entity undercuts that appeal. Garlinghouse said the assertion that Ripple controls XRP is false and is part of why the company ended up in a US court case where it had to prove otherwise. Spot volume for XRP has remained above $2.3 billion over the past 24 hours, while order book data shows bid liquidity clustered near $1.45 and ask orders thinning above $1.58.

Garlinghouse Rejects Centralization Claims at Industry Event

Garlinghouse first pointed to a broader problem in the industry, saying that with money at stake, false claims are often deliberate. He described the spread of such claims as disinformation rather than mere misinformation, characterizing those who spread it as acting with bad intent. The question came from an attendee who said many people move into crypto because governments print money and currencies lose value, an issue Bitcoin and Ethereum avoid because nobody controls them. The attendee asked whether XRP, held largely by one entity and a few individuals, undercuts that appeal. Garlinghouse said the centralization claim is fundamentally not true and that he has stopped responding to it because it is not worth his energy. Perpetual futures funding rates for XRP remain slightly positive, indicating that leveraged traders are paying a premium to maintain long positions.

Validator Distribution Shows Ripple Holds Minority Role

Garlinghouse said the XRP Ledger is open source and decentralized, with Ripple running approximately 2.4% of its validators while independent parties run the other 97.6%. He acknowledged that Ripple holds a large amount of XRP but said that gives it no say in governance. The ledger is not a proof-of-stake network, so validators reach agreement through a consensus process that decides whether each transaction goes through. Owning tokens carries no vote in that process. The table below summarizes the central claims and Garlinghouse's responses.

ClaimGarlinghouse ResponseEvidence Cited

Ripple controls XRP	The assertion is false and was tested in court	Ripple operates about 2.4% of validators
XRP holders have governance power	Holding tokens confers no vote	XRP Ledger is not proof-of-stake
Ripple could reverse transactions	Ripple could not reverse a $148 million theft	Exchanges froze funds; FBI involved

XRP Ledger Is Not Proof-of-Stake, So Tokens Carry No Vote

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The distinction between token ownership and network governance is central to Garlinghouse's argument. On proof-of-stake networks, large holders can influence validator selection and protocol direction through staking weight. The XRP Ledger uses a federated consensus model in which validators agree on transaction ordering without weighting votes by token balance. Ripple's large XRP holdings therefore do not translate into control over which transactions are confirmed or which amendments are adopted. Independent validators can choose which other validators to trust, and no single party can unilaterally rewrite the ledger or inflate supply. Open interest in XRP perpetual contracts has expanded modestly over the past week, while spot volume across major exchanges has remained above the 30-day average.

$148 Million Theft Demonstrates Limits of Ripple's Control

Garlinghouse cited a theft that occurred about 18 months ago, when approximately $148 million in XRP was stolen from Ripple's founder. If Ripple controlled XRP, he argued, it would have reversed the transfer. It could not. Some of the funds were recovered, but only because centralized exchanges froze them and the FBI became involved. That recovery depended on traditional financial intermediaries and law enforcement, not on any ability of Ripple to alter the XRP Ledger's transaction history. The episode illustrates that the network's design prevents any single entity, including its founding company, from overriding confirmed transfers. Order book depth within 2% of the mid-price shows ask liquidity concentrated between $1.52 and $1.58, while bid support remains thin below $1.42.

Why Garlinghouse Stopped Responding to Centralization Critics

Garlinghouse said online claims that XRP is centralized are fundamentally not true and that he has stopped responding to them. He said the claims are not worth his energy, a shift from earlier years when he engaged more directly with critics on social media. The decision reflects a broader strategy of focusing on Ripple's business and legal priorities rather than debating decentralized governance claims. The company's five-year lawsuit with the US Securities and Exchange Commission ended in August 2025, when both sides dropped their appeals after courts found that XRP sold on public exchanges is not a security. Ripple's institutional sales were found to violate securities law, and the original $125 million civil penalty remained in place after a proposed reduction was rejected.

Market Context and XRP Price Levels

XRP traded near $1.53 following Garlinghouse's remarks, holding above the $1.45 support zone that has attracted bid liquidity in recent sessions. The immediate resistance sits at $1.58, and a sustained break above that level would open the path toward $1.65. On the downside, a breakdown below $1.45 would shift focus toward the $1.35 zone where the next significant bid cluster resides. Trading volume across spot and derivatives markets has remained elevated, with XRP perpetual open interest holding above $1.1 billion. The order book shows ask liquidity clustered between $1.52 and $1.58, while bid support remains thin below $1.42.