The pitch: stablecoins, but make them enormous
At the Coindesk Consensus Conference, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse argued that stablecoins could swell to $3 trillion by 2031. That’s not a typo — it’s his case that the world’s payment rails are stuck in the dial-up era while money itself is basically expected to run 24/7.
His favorite example? A real-world fuel payment in Peruvian soles for American Airlines. In the old-school banking world, correspondent banking can take days and rack up costs. Stablecoins, in theory, can make that kind of transaction feel more like Venmo and less like waiting for a fax machine to return from lunch.
Why investors should care
Garlinghouse pointed to three big drivers:
- The GENIUS Act, which he sees as a regulatory unlock
- The Circle IPO, which he says made corporate boards pay attention
- The fact that treasury teams want faster, cheaper cross-border payment rails
He also said Ripple Treasury, formerly G Treasury, processed $13 trillion in payments last year without stablecoins in the mix — and he thinks as much as 30% of that could migrate on-chain within five years. If even part of that happens, stablecoin infrastructure stops being a crypto hobby and starts looking like a very real payments business.
XRP gets dragged into the conversation too
Garlinghouse also admitted XRP has been underwhelming lately, even as he stayed bullish over the next 12 months. He flagged the token’s technical setup as weak, with the moving averages still stacked in that unpleasant “not today, pal” formation.
Big picture: this isn’t a revenue print or a product launch. It’s a loud reminder that the next big crypto trade may be less about memes and more about who controls the pipes money runs through.