Bold predictions rarely age well in crypto, but Brad Garlinghouse just bet his reputation on new all-time highs. Brad Garlinghouse doesn’t mince words. Standing before the financial elite at Davos this week, Ripple’s CEO delivered a prediction that would make even the most crypto-optimistic hedge fund manager pause: “I’m very bullish, and yes, I’ll go on record as saying, I think we’ll see an all-time high.”
That’s a bold claim when Bitcoin sits at $89,000—approximately $37,000 below its October 2025 peak of $126,000. But Garlinghouse isn’t some moonshot influencer hawking the next meme coin. He’s the executive who just survived a four-year legal battle with the SEC, spending $150 million to prove XRP wasn’t a security.
When the government dropped its case against Ripple in March 2025, Ripple emerged as the only major crypto company to “fight back and win on essential legal questions,” according to Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty.
The Regulatory Wind Shift
New laws are changing crypto’s fundamental operating environment.
Garlinghouse’s confidence stems from what he calls regulatory clarity that has “unlocked a lot of activity.” The GENIUS Act, passed with bipartisan support in 2025, established the first comprehensive framework for payment stablecoins. More importantly for your investment decisions, it explicitly excludes compliant stablecoins from securities classification—removing a massive uncertainty that previously spooked institutional money.
The act’s implementation deadline looms in July 2026, forcing regulators to finalize rules. Meanwhile, Garlinghouse sees a “massive sea change” in institutional interest that isn’t “priced into the crypto market as much as I would have expected.” Translation: traditional finance is quietly warming up to digital assets, but markets haven’t caught up yet.
The Prediction Battlefield
Wall Street analysts are split between euphoria and apocalypse scenarios.
Garlinghouse isn’t alone in his optimism, but the range of expert predictions resembles a financial horoscope. Bernstein targets $150,000 Bitcoin for 2026, citing institutional inflows. Grayscale expects new all-time highs in the first half of the year.
Then there’s Bloomberg Intelligence’s Mike McGlone, predicting an 88% crash to $10,000—essentially crypto’s version of the Titanic hitting an iceberg made of deflation and tightening liquidity. Barclays takes the middle ground, suggesting flat or weaker performance without major catalysts.
You’re essentially choosing between a Ferrari and a food stamp based on who you believe. The optimists point to regulatory clarity and institutional adoption; the pessimists cite declining trading volumes and waning retail interest.
Both camps can’t be right, but both could be spectacularly wrong. Either way, you’ll know by December whether Garlinghouse’s Davos declaration was prescient or just expensive confidence.
