Brad Garlinghouse, the man behind major altcoin and payment system Ripple, says that “tribalism” is preventing the $2 trillion crypto space from getting any further.
Brad Garlinghouse On Crypto: There’s Too Much “Tribalism”
In a recent interview, Garlinghouse stated:
Polarization isn’t healthy in my judgement. I own bitcoin, I own ether, I own some others. I am an absolute believer that this industry is going to continue to thrive. All boats can rise.
Garlinghouse is a former Yahoo executive who entered the crypto space several years ago with Ripple, which for the longest time was the third largest digital currency by market cap. Today, it ranks as number six behind assets like Tether, BNB, and USD Coin (USDC) according to CoinMarketCap.com.
At a recent conference, Garlinghouse compared bitcoin and the crypto space to the dotcom bubble of the late 90s and early 2000s. He stated:
Yahoo could be successful and so could eBay… They’re solving different problems. There are different use cases and different audiences and different markets. I think a lot of those parallels exist today.
There was a time when the crypto space was thin and dominated by a few currencies ranging from bitcoin to Ethereum to bitcoin cash (BCH). Today, there are tens of thousands of new digital currencies for traders to choose from. Together, they bring the arena’s market cap to around $2 trillion.
Some of these coins feature huge fans such as bitcoin, who’s diehard traders are often referred to as “maximalists.” Ethereum also has a loyal following given how much its network is loved and respected by developers looking to take advantage of its smart contract capabilities so they can develop new coins and crypto projects.
Among the maximalists out there are Michael Saylor, who is arguably the biggest institutional head behind bitcoin. His company MicroStrategy, a giant in the software industry, has purchased close to $5 billion worth of bitcoin at the time of writing. It has been making these purchases since August of 2020, and the company says it’s looking to engage in more bitcoin buys in the future.
Garlinghouse also stated that he is truly shocked by how little attention the crypto space has received from U.S. lawmakers. Continuing his interview, he stated:
The lack of coordination in Washington, D.C., amongst the crypto industry, I find to be shocking.
What Is the Nature of Ripple?
It’s unclear if he feels better now that Joe Biden has issued a crypto executive order calling for government agencies throughout the U.S. to examine crypto and perform studies about its risks.
Ripple is often a standout in the crypto space given that most of the digital assets out there are operating on decentralized platforms. By contrast, Ripple executives currently own more than 50 percent of the XRP units used for the system’s cross border payments, suggesting a centralized nature.
Source: https://www.livebitcoinnews.com/brad-garlinghouse-suggests-the-crypto-world-is-polarized/