Donald Trump hasn't even returned to the White House, but Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said he's already seen traditional finance leaders make a significant pivot when it comes to their appetite for cryptocurrencies.

In the six weeks following the 2024 presidential election, Ripple, which builds blockchain infrastructure for financial institutions, said it signed more new customers than in the previous six months combined.

Garlinghouse said Decryption In an interview, many new traditional finance clients openly said that they are now willing to transact with cryptocurrencies in the US because they are no longer afraid that it will bring... Legal problem.

“They didn’t want to get into the fight,” Garlinghouse said of US TradFi companies under Joe Biden. “(Encryption) was just an additional headache they didn't want to deal with.”

But since the election, Trump has not only continued to make digital assets correlated Promises- He has also hired a large number of pro-crypto entrepreneurs key cabinet AttitudesIt's a development that Garlinghouse says has sent an unmistakable signal to Wall Street.

“When you engage them now, they see the writing on the wall,” Garlinghouse said of TradFi leaders. “The risk of them dealing with the likes of Ripple is much lower.”

The fact that the cryptocurrency industry now finds itself enjoying a moment of lower risk and greater opportunity is certainly no coincidence. Last year, Garlinghouse and executives from a few of the other largest US cryptocurrency companies pulled off an unprecedented political playbook, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into super PACs that... Reshaping the 2024 elections They strengthened the political future of their industry in the United States.

The spoils of that war are already impacting Ripple's hiring practices and outlook. Garlinghouse says Ripple is currently hiring for more than 70 new jobs in the US, meaning about 75% of the company's new job openings are in America. This is a complete reversal from the past several years, when the vast majority of new Ripple deployments were based offshore due to regulatory concerns.

“It's not just measured by cryptocurrency prices,” Garlinghouse said of the health of the digital assets industry. “It's measured by hiring, it's measured by contracts signed. These are the things that move the economy, and you've already seen that from (Trump) even in office.”

There is certainly a lot to be done for the industry once the president-elect is sworn in on January 20. Last month, Trump pledged to create the first ever White House office. Encryption boarda working group of industry leaders run by venture capitalists David Sacks It will provide advice on crypto policy and legislation.

Many cryptocurrency executives have done so previously Express interest In grabbing a seat at that coveted table. When asked if he had already been appointed to serve on Trump's cryptocurrency council, Garlinghouse didn't say one way or the other — but added that he has been in contact with the transition team, and is aware of what they have planned when it comes to crypto policy in 2025.

“I feel really good and, honestly, really excited about what I learned about those plans,” he said.

Modified by Andrew Hayward