Ripple CEO supports AI, revenue is expected to double in 2026

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said on August 20 that the company is actively adopting artificial intelligence to drive revenue growth and team expansion.

Summary

Garlinghouse said that Ripple has actively used artificial intelligence in various businesses to accelerate growth. The company currently has approximately 1500 employees worldwide and plans to continue hiring as global revenue grows further. Despite continued market weakness, Garlinghouse expects Ripple's annual revenue to more than double in 2026. Ripple currently publicly lists 94 positions, including engineering positions focused on artificial intelligence-driven global operations. Its Prime business settles more than $3 trillion annually for more than 300 institutional customers.

Ripple views artificial intelligence as an expansion tool

At the SALT Wyoming blockchain seminar in Salt Lake City, Garlinghouse described artificial intelligence as a "booster and accelerator", especially for companies with growing businesses and strong customer demand. "If you are in an industry with growth opportunities, serving customers and providing competitive solutions, artificial intelligence will only allow you to do better, faster, and stronger," he said in a recorded interview. He added that Ripple has approximately 1500 employees worldwide and 150 job openings. Garlinghouse said the company intends to continue to expand because its business is growing.

Garlinghouse dismissed the idea that artificial intelligence will inevitably lead to mass layoffs. He believes some companies may just use the technology to make excuses for already needed layoffs. "When I see companies announce mass layoffs and say,'Oh, it's because of artificial intelligence,' in my opinion, it just means that they were bloated before and are now using this as an excuse," he said. His remarks only represent views on recent layoffs, rather than company-specific evidence. Companies attribute layoffs to multiple factors, including automation, restructuring, operating costs and changes in customer needs.

At the time of review, Ripple's open recruitment portal showed 94 available positions. Differences from Garlinghouse's figures may reflect that some positions have not been made public, are being recruited through other channels, or have changed since the meeting. Some recruitment information directly links Ripple's engineering strategy to artificial intelligence. One of the senior engineering positions requires "AI-native operations" that uses agent development methods to expand the company's payment network rather than relying entirely on traditional people expansion.

Institutional business expansion supports Ripple's growth proposition

Garlinghouse said Ripple expects to have a record year and "more than double annual revenue year-on-year." Ripple is a private company and does not need to publish audited quarterly financial statements like a listed company, so this revenue forecast is only a guide for the company. Through acquisitions and new institutional services, the company has expanded from its original cross-border payment business to a broader field. Ripple completed its acquisition of Hidden Road for US$1.25 billion in October 2025 and renamed it Ripple Prime. The acquisition allows Ripple to enter the global prime brokerage services sector, covering digital assets and traditional markets. Ripple said the division settled more than $3 trillion annually for more than 300 institutional clients.

Ripple previously stated that the main brokerage business has tripled in size between the announcement and completion of the acquisition. This data is self-reported by the company and is independently audited without public financial documents. The company has also expanded into the field of corporate treasury management. In related businesses, Ripple launched an enterprise platform for managing digital assets and liquidity after acquiring treasury software provider GTreasury.

Ripple's artificial intelligence strategy targets financial infrastructure

Garlinghouse connects the company's prospects to its long-term focus on financial infrastructure. Ripple sells payment, custody, stablecoins, prime brokerage and treasury services to institutions. "More and more people are realizing that the infrastructure level, the institutional level is the key," he said. He described Ripple's role as a bridge between traditional finance and decentralized financial infrastructure. Ripple President Monica Long expressed similar views in the company's 2026 forecast. She said that artificial intelligence models can work in conjunction with blockchain to automate liquidity management, margin calls and portfolio rebalancing.

This strategy does not mean that Ripple will replace employees with autonomous systems. The company's current position is that artificial intelligence can increase the output of existing teams while helping the company serve more customers and enter more markets. The next measurable indicators will be Ripple's recruitment activities and whether it can achieve Garlinghouse's revenue goals. Any public offering may ultimately provide independently audited financial information, but the company has not yet announced a precise IPO timetable.

Ripple's commercial growth should not be seen as automatic growth for XRP either. Ripple is a private company, while XRP is an independent digital asset. Many Ripple services can grow without creating direct demand for XRP.