Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has put a clear number on the company’s 2026 business goal.
Summary
- Ripple’s revenue target separates operating income from XRP holdings, aiming to calm balance sheet concerns.
- Hidden Road, RLUSD, and treasury tools give Ripple more routes to serve banks and firms.
- XRP ETF inflows remain positive, but token demand still differs from Ripple’s business revenue path.
According to posts shared by CoinMarketCap and crypto-focused accounts on X, Ripple expects to end 2026 with a $1 billion revenue run rate. The figure does not include XRP held on Ripple’s balance sheet.
That detail matters because Ripple has long faced public debate over the link between its business and XRP. Garlinghouse’s target frames the company as a fintech infrastructure provider that aims to earn money from products, clients, and services, not from token holdings or sales.
Hidden Road, RLUSD and AI payments drive business push
Ripple has expanded beyond cross-border payments during the past year. The company agreed to buy prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion in 2025, a deal that added credit, clearing, and prime brokerage services for large clients. Ripple said Hidden Road clears about $3 trillion a year across markets.
The deal also supports Ripple USD, known as RLUSD. Ripple has promoted the stablecoin for enterprise settlement and collateral use. Recently, crypto.news reported that Ripple is also adding RLUSD to new payment tools, including services tied to AI agents and machine payments on the XRP Ledger.
Company materials point to custody, treasury management, and liquidity services as core offerings. These products target banks and firms that need faster settlement, account control, and access to digital assets through regulated processes, rather than retail trading.
XRP demand stays separate from company revenue
Crypto.news data showed XRP trading near $1.15 on June 14, while XRP-linked ETF products recorded inflows for a fifth straight week. As reported earlier today, XRP products added about $10.68 million in the week ended June 12, even as Bitcoin and Ethereum funds saw outflows during the same period.
Those figures show that investor demand for XRP can move on a different track from Ripple’s operating business. Garlinghouse’s “not including XRP” point places the revenue target outside daily price action. It also gives banks, payment firms, and corporate treasurers a clearer way to judge Ripple’s core business.
Regulation remains part of Ripple’s 2026 plan
Ripple’s growth plan also sits next to a busy U.S. policy calendar. As previously reported, the CLARITY Act cleared the Senate Banking Committee by a 15-9 vote on May 14, 2026. The bill still needs more work before a full Senate vote, including a merger with text from the Agriculture Committee.
Garlinghouse has backed clearer rules for digital assets, saying banks need more legal certainty before they move deeper into crypto services. For Ripple, a rulebook could support payments, custody, liquidity, treasury tools, stablecoins, and token settlement in the United States.
Ripple has also moved into automated payments. As rypto.news reported on June 13, the company released the XRPL AI Starter Kit, which lets AI agents use XRP and RLUSD for payments through the x402 protocol with limited human involvement. The tool allows software agents to create wallets, check balances, track transactions, and send payments.
