Ripple CEO Responds as Flare Founder Says Crypto Industry Is Now Chasing XRP ‘Banker Coin’ Vision

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has joined an ongoing discussion within the XRP community regarding recent comments from Flare co-founder Hugo Philion.

Philion argued that Ripple and XRP were once criticized for targeting banks and payment providers. Today, however, much of the crypto industry is pursuing the same strategy.

He shared this view during a recent interview with AllInCrypto. XRP community figure BankXRP later shared clips from the interview on X. Garlinghouse responded to the post with a brief comment: “True.”

Philion Says the Industry Has Moved Toward XRP’s Vision

During the interview, Philion said he had long been interested in XRP because of its focus on solving real-world payment problems. In his view, Ripple’s payments strategy has largely been on the right track despite years of regulatory challenges.

He also pointed to a major shift in industry sentiment. In XRP’s early years, critics often labeled it the “banker coin” because of Ripple’s focus on financial institutions.

Today, Philion noted that many blockchain projects are trying to build relationships with banks, payment companies, and other traditional financial players. As a result, criticism once directed at XRP now appears ironic.

According to Philion, Ripple has remained relatively consistent with its original goals. Meanwhile, the crypto industry has gradually moved toward the same opportunity.

Garlinghouse Backs the View

Garlinghouse responded with “True,” a one-word reply that endorses Philion’s assessment. Supporters argue that Ripple’s focus on institutional adoption and cross-border payments was ahead of its time.

Meanwhile, Australian lawyer and XRP supporter Bill Morgan also weighed in on the discussion. Morgan highlighted what he sees as another contradiction in the criticism surrounding Ripple. He noted that the company has been criticized both for holding large amounts of XRP and for selling portions of its holdings.

His comments suggested that Ripple has often faced criticism regardless of how it manages its XRP reserves.

Not to mention criticizing Ripple for holding too much XRP and then criticising it when it sells XRP.

— bill morgan (@Belisarius2020) June 10, 2026

Why Flare Built Around XRP

Philion also explained why XRP became a key focus for Flare. According to him, XRP was a natural starting point for the network’s development. He believed the asset represented a major opportunity that many investors and venture capital firms failed to recognize.

Philion recalled that some investors questioned Flare’s decision to focus on XRP. However, he argued that they underestimated the scale of the opportunity.

He pointed to the large amount of capital held by XRP investors and said those assets needed more utility beyond simple transfers and long-term holding.

Expanding DeFi for XRP Holders

Rather than targeting Bitcoin first, Flare chose to focus on XRP because it lacked a meaningful decentralized finance ecosystem, Philion said. Building a DeFi market around XRP was not easy. Still, he believes the effort is beginning to gain traction.

His comments are part of an ongoing push within the XRP ecosystem to expand utility beyond payments. Projects such as Flare are working to bring DeFi services to XRP holders and create new use cases for the asset.

Flare’s FXRP initiative launched in 2025 and has continued to reach new milestones, including nearing 200 million circulating tokens.