CEO of Ripple Tattoos XRP, Shows "1000%" Confidence in the Future of the Token

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple Labs, a Harvard graduate, has declared his strong belief in XRP by tattooing the logo of this token on his arm. On Sunday, the fintech director responded to a popular crypto account X highlighting the boldness of signing a contract worth over $50 billion, especially in the context of the ongoing legal battle between Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). "When a person with an MBA from Harvard gets a tattoo after 50, they have thought it through and know that the tattoo will only change for the better," the user wrote. The CEO of Ripple replied, "1000%."

Garlinghouse's tattoo includes the XRP symbol and the date July 13, 2023, the day the court ruled that Ripple's sale of XRP to institutional investors was a violation of securities laws but dismissed the retail sale law. This ruling marks a turning point in Ripple's legal battle with the SEC, which sued the company in December 2020 for alleged violations of securities laws. The strong support of the Ripple CEO comes in the context of the company and the SEC seeking to resolve the case. Last week, Garlinghouse announced that the company would withdraw its cross-appeal to the SEC. He stated: "Ripple is withdrawing our cross-appeal and the SEC is also expected to withdraw their appeal, as they mentioned earlier." This development comes just one day after a U.S. district court rejected a joint request from Ripple and the SEC for a declaratory judgment aimed at reducing Ripple's $125 million civil penalty and overturning the ruling that labeled Ripple's XRP sales as securities transactions. Judge Analisa Torres wrote that Ripple's willingness to "cross the boundaries" of the previous summary judgment indicates the possibility of further violations. Ripple's legal director, Stuart Alderoty, commented on the court's decision and stated that Ripple has two options: withdraw the appeal or continue to contest the ruling. He emphasized that regardless of the path chosen, "the legal status of XRP as not being a security remains unchanged," assuring investors that Ripple's operations will continue as normal. While the court ruled that the sale of XRP under Ripple's program does not constitute a securities transaction, it found that the sales by the Ripple organization do constitute one. XRP Ledger Releases New Upgrade Amid Growing Interest According to reports, RippleX, the development arm of Ripple, has released version 2.5.0 of the XRP Ledger, introducing several protocol upgrades aimed at enhancing the functionality and security of the network. Mayukha Vadari, an engineer at RippleX, called this upgrade "possibly the best single patch" ever released, bringing significant improvements to token management and transaction processing. The revised XLS-85 upgrades the margin system by allowing the use of tokens issued by third parties, including stablecoins, and introduces versatile tokens designed for organizational applications. Another important change, XLS-56, allows wrapped transactions to combine up to eight steps into a single action, aimed at reducing error rates in complex transaction flows and improving network efficiency for advanced use cases. The new update appears as the XRP Ledger records a surge in user activity, with the number of daily active addresses rising from an average of 35,000 to over 295,000.