Ripple CEO Garlinghouse Predicts 2026 Will Be Crypto’s All-Time Best Performing Year
Brace for impact. The crypto markets are gearing up for what one industry titan calls their greatest performance year yet.
Ripple's Brad Garlinghouse just dropped a bombshell prediction: 2026 will be the all-time best performing year for digital assets. Not a good year. Not a great year. The best year. Ever.
The Bull Case for 2026
Forget the noise. Regulatory clarity is finally cutting through the fog, institutional money is bypassing traditional gatekeepers, and real-world utility is no longer a pipe dream. The convergence isn't coming—it's already here.
Market cycles typically run in four-year phases, and 2026 sits perfectly in the sweet spot of the next major expansion. The infrastructure built during the last bear market is now operational, ready to onboard the next wave of users and capital.
Beyond the Hype Cycle
This isn't about speculative memecoins or empty promises. The narrative has shifted from 'number go up' to tangible value creation. Payments, tokenization, and decentralized finance are moving from pilot programs to production at scale.
The smart money—the kind that usually waits for a 10-K filing before getting excited—is already positioning itself. They see the writing on the wall, even if their legacy analysts are still trying to price in 'intangible digital scarcity.'
So mark the calendar. The stage is set for a historic run. Whether it delivers or becomes another entry in finance's long history of overly optimistic forecasts remains to be seen. But one CEO is betting big that this time, the hype is real.
What analysts are saying about XRP
Ripple’s XRP saw monumental price growth at the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025, rising from $0.50 to over $3.80 over the course of roughly a month and a half. This catapulted the prominent digital asset to where it now stands as the 5th-largest cryptocurrency in the world by market cap.
This price action came towards the end of a long-standing battle between XRP’s parent company, Ripple, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after the company was accused of violating securities laws in December of 2020. Ripple secured several significant legal victories in the years that followed, and the case was eventually dropped in early August of 2025, as announced by the SEC.
Garlinghouse has risen to become one of the most prominent voices in cryptocurrency over the years, but his fame has not come without scrutiny. The crypto community had some tough words for the Ripple CEO after he announced his support on X for the controversial first draft of the CLARITY Act.
This bill ultimately serves the purpose of defining which agency (SEC or CFTC) regulates certain cryptocurrencies, along with legislation for consumer protection, capital raising, and other regulatory measures for cryptocurrency operation in the U.S. Prominent industry figures like Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Cardano CEO Charles Hoskinson opposed much of the first draft of this bill, with Hoskinson slamming Garlinghouse directly for his support of it.
The current state of the cryptocurrency market
Investors had high hopes for the digital asset market going into 2025 after a new wave of large-scale institutional investment and the election of now U.S. President Donald TRUMP in 2024. Trump campaigned as being the first pro-crypto president, promising to deliver a new era of crypto-friendly legislation after years of the asset class being scrutinized by U.S. Government financial entities like the SEC. The Trump Administration made significant efforts to deliver on these promises in 2025, working closely with industry leaders and passing significant legislation like the GENIUS Act for stablecoin regulation and innovation.
However, crypto suffered a rather lackluster year in 2025 in comparison to the blow-off top, parabolic market euphoria that investors have grown accustomed to in the last few bull markets. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and solana all reached new all-time highs last year, but not nearly to the degree that many expected. Positive market sentiment around regulatory progress and institutional adoption was largely stifled in 2025 under economic uncertainty caused by the Trump Administration’s tariff policies and widespread inflation concerns.
Going forward into 2026, the Fear & Greed Index has shifted from the mid-50s last week (neutral) to the low 30s (fear) at the time of writing. This showcases a lack of confidence by investors in the current state of the market and an uncertain future in 2026 for the asset class. Industry leaders like Garlinghouse remain optimistic, but economic instability has largely held crypto markets back as we MOVE forward into the new year.
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