During a recent podcast appearance, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz revealed that Brad Garlinghouse had told him that he did not know where the "XRP Army" actually came from.
"Brad Garlinghouse has done an amazing job of creating… and I asked him a few times, I think, ‘Where does this XRP army come from?’ And he said, ‘I’m not even sure.’ Like, they care about this," Novogratz said.
"An injustice"
Novogratz also had some words of praise for pro-XRP advocate John Deaton, who rose to prominence during the lawsuit saga.
"I mean, when they went through that lawsuit… John Deaton… that guy was literally tweeting nine times a day, fighting this case in court," he said.
"This was part of his community, and he thought this was an injustice done to his community," Novogratz added.
After the SEC took Ripple in December 2020, Deaton filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) motion on behalf of tens of thousands of XRP holders. He argued that the agency's actions were harmful to ordinary investors.
Store of value
Novogratz argues that XRP can be viewed as a store of value since people store their wealth in the token.
"XRP is still the number three token that people care about. And when I say care about it, they are choosing to take their hard-earned dollars… and they’re storing that value in a community," he stressed.
Former XRP skeptic
Novogratz used to be an XRP skeptic. He previously criticized it due to centralization concerns and the alleged lack of utility.
However, in 2023, he admitted that he was wrong about the token, which remains among the biggest altcoins by market cap.
Earlier this year, he also stated that he believes that people should be allowed to buy the token.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team