Ripple’s Harris donations: has the firm squandered Trump’s support?
In 2024, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen donated nearly $12 million to the Harris campaign in an attempt to influence cryptocurrency policy under the then-potential Democratic administration. This sparked rumors that Trump was opposed to Ripple's blockchain, intended to be used for transactions by financial institutions.Reports on Ripple's relationship with President Trump are mixed. While Ripple's general counsel denies any conflict, some journalists suggested that Trump eluded to the fact that he would not support those who campaigned against him in the past. This wouldn't be a surprising stance the new president could take, given his reputation for being a tough negotiator and holding grudges.In a response to reports suggesting a conflict between Donald Trump and Ripple over political donations, Ripple's Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, dismissed the claims as "pure fiction". The original "insider source" has since been removed, suggesting the claims werde false. Ripple also supported Trump's $200 million inauguration fund with $5 million in XRP. According to statements, Ripple's political contributions were not party specific, and are aimed at promoting favorable crypto policies across party lines.On January 6 Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and General Counsel Alderoty Stuart attended a private dinner with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, which Garlinghouse described as a "strong start to 2025". Additionally, both attended Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2025, reflecting the effort to engage with the new administration.Great dinner last night with @realDonaldTrump & @s_alderoty.Strong start to 2025! pic.twitter.com/UjM6lahUG4— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) January 8, 2025Ripple's bipartisanship and the US crypto reserveRegardless of political donations, the outlook for Ripple and many other US-based crypto companies is indeed very positive. The Trump administration has plans to use seized bitcoin to create a crypto reserve, with the Lummis bill proposing a one million bitcoin reserve. Further positive signals come from Gary Gensler's temporary successor Mark Uyeda. He is likely to be replaced later by Paul Atkins, who is known for his supportive views on digital assets. This could open the path for an XRP ETF in the US.We are so back. Here's a massive list of all the current digital asset ETF filings that I'm aware of: pic.twitter.com/npHuTmox5K— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) January 21, 2025About the author Victor KoetterVictor has been actively involved in the crypto scene since 2019 and sees great potential in the possible applications of the technology and the resulting innovations. At the Crypto Valley Journal, he is responsible for the coverage of the topics NFTs & Metaverse. In 2021, he also co-founded the Swiss NFT Association. The association forms a knowledge hub around the topic of NFTs and organizes regular informative events.