Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple took to the airwaves and spoke with CNN’s Julia Chatterly about the current state of Ripple, XRP, and the company’s plans for 2020. Garlinghouse concluded that in 5 years, Ripple wants to become the Amazon of the crypto industry.

Ripple grew during bear market, other blockchain projects had layoffs
Brad Garlinghouse was interviewed by CNN’s Julia Chatterly, this morning, and spoke about the state of Ripple, and its future plans. The Ripple CEO sees Ripple and XRP as doing very good currently, although he doesn’t pay much attention to short term price action.

INTERVIEW PART I “Once regulators understand you’re not circumventing regulatory frameworks they get very comfortable very quickly,” @Ripple CEO @bgarlinghouse explains why he’s on a mission to educate regulators around the world. pic.twitter.com/2PMVvj3PZU
— Julia Chatterley (@jchatterleyCNN) February 17, 2020

 
Garlinghouse views his company from a much longer-term standpoint. He compared the nascent crypto-markets with a couple hundred billion dollar valuation to markets like gold which are many trillions, comparatively.
Garlinghouse believes Ripple’s ecosystem will continue to grow and solve real problems for real customers with projects like Coil, for micropayments. Garlinghouse stated that he did not see Bitcoin, Ethereum, or other crypto projects as competing, and that overall growth in the space is good for everyone.
Ripple grew and added 150 employees during the bear market, while many other projects had massive layoffs. Garlinghouse also touched on Ripple’s upcoming IPO, although he didn’t give a definitive timeline.
We’ve added more than 150 employees last year, at a time when I think others have been less focused on solving real world problems. There’s been a bunch of lay offs in crypto community over the past weeks
Ripple also plans to work with regulators for more clarity. He wishes to see US become a leader in the crypto and blockchain industries but that won’t happen without regulatory clarity.
He said XRP’s value is north of $10 billion, so a $10 billion valuation for a Ripple IPO presents an opportunity for Ripple shareholders. An IPO would allow Ripple more flexibility to pursue deals like their $50 million investment in Moneygram, or Mexican exchange Bitso.
He also voiced the opinion that China’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is overall healthy for crypto. He believes that governments and central banks should consider crypto and blockchain tech.
When I step back and think about it macro, I think it’s really healthy and constructive for the entire crypto blockchain community to see central banks and central governments lean into what can these new technologies do to make our economy more efficient, our payment infrastructure more efficient… so at large I think it’s really positive.
Brad Dreams of Amazon-Status
Garlinghouse mentioned Amazon’s epic growth, and how it started out as an online book seller, before it made a pivot and began to dominate e-commerce. He envisions a similar potential for Ripple, although he does say that first and foremeost Ripple is solving cross-border payments.
I hope that in 5 years we’re not just Amazon books, we’re Amazon
He says it’s difficult to envision just where the crypto market will be in  five years but he sees Ripple growing much larger and providing real solutions for customers. Ripple has been partnering with many strategic companies, like SBI, Moneygram, IndusInd, and Saudi Arabian British bank, to increase its marketshare and influence in the remittances and cross-border payments industry.
Garlinghouse says that since Ripple is open-source he is open to the idea of CBDCs launching on its blockchain. CDBCs could leverage Ripple’s technology for hyper-efficient cross-border payments across different banking jurisdictions. It will be interesting to see if any central banks take him up on the offer.
CBDC’s were a hot topic of conversation at Davos, this year, and many central banks in emerging economies are already researching the viability of launching their oiwn CBDCs.
Do you think Ripple could become the Amazon of the crypto space by 2025? Add your thoughts below!

Images via Shutterstock, Twitter @JchatterlyCNN