A photo illustration of digital cryptocurrency Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) is seen on September 13 2018 in Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Yu Chun Christopher Wong | S3studio | Getty Images
Cryptocurrency markets will reach all-time highs this year, the CEO of one of the industry’s biggest companies told CNBC.
“I’m very optimistic, and yes, I will go on record saying I think we’ll see an all-time high,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told CNBC when asked about the cryptocurrency’s performance this year.
Bitcointhe world’s largest cryptocurrency, hit an all-time high of around $126,000 in October and was trading at around $89,000 on Wednesday.
Speaking on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Garlinghouse said regulatory changes such as the landmark GENIUS Act had “unlocked a lot of activity.”
Bitcoin reached an all-time high in October 2025.
The Securities and Exchange Commission in March dropped a four-year-old lawsuit against Ripple, which the crypto company spent $150 million to fight. The SEC had accused Ripple of raising $1.3 billion through the sale of its XRP token without registering it as a security. “Ripple is the only company that fought back and won on critical legal issues,” Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s chief legal officer, told CNBC in a statement in March after the case concluded.
The GENIUS Act, passed in June, sets safeguards for the industry, such as full reserve support and monthly audits.
Garlinghouse said “large” financial institutions showing interest in crypto is a “step change.” “I don’t think it’s taken into account in the crypto market as much as I would have expected right now,” he said.
XRPRipple’s payment token, has become a flagship transaction in this month’s crypto rally. It was trading at around $1.90 on Wednesday.
XRP stock trading chart.
Analysts at Standard Chartered said that XRP could reach $8 in 2026 and $12.50 by 2028. but Garlinghouse declined to comment on the matter.
“We are a very involved player in what is happening in the XRP ecosystem,” he said. “Five or 10 years from now, you’ll see continued, very positive momentum,” Garlinghouse said.
When asked what the biggest use cases for digital assets are likely to be this year, Garlinghouse said he expects Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, to re-enter the US market.
Garlinghouse said the GENIUS Act would help stablecoins “scale in a very big way,” adding that cryptocurrency could help operations such as payroll become more efficient.
He said cryptocurrencies “represent a very good growth opportunity for the next 10 years.”
Garlinghouse was optimistic about the Clarity Act, a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. “It will be done. We are closer than ever,” he said.
— CNBC’s Ari Levy, Arjun Kharpal and MacKenzie Sigalos contributed to this report.
