Reacting to Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s interview with Maria Bartiromo, Deaton wrote a lengthy post on the social media X today, expressing his worries and concerns regarding the direction crypto policy in the U.S. is taking.
In his interview with Bartirmoro for Fox Business, Garlinghouse warned that if the U.S. keeps dragging its feet, American companies and capital markets will bleed out to friendlier jurisdictions while Washington fixates on the wrong crypto battles.
Bartimoro positioned the discussion around U.S. competitiveness and regulatory chaos, echoing a long‑running Fox Business narrative that America is “losing the race” on digital assets.
Ripple and XRP holders have lived through that chaos first‑hand, from the SEC fight to today’s policy vacuum.
This is why Deaton seizes on Garlinghouse’s warning. In the middle of a heated fight over Trump’s CBDC ban order and years of media‑driven CBDC panic, Deaton argues that the only way to stop a future surveillance‑style CBDC is through hard legislation passed by Congress.
American companies and our financial markets cannot afford to experience Gensler 2.0. And the only way to guarantee that we don’t – is by passing legislation.
For Deaton, a “Gensler 2.0” means a future regulator who uses aggressive “regulation by enforcement” instead of clear rulemaking, like Gensler did with Ripple, XRP, LBRY, Coinbase and others, and treats most tokens as securities by default, keeping the industry in a constant defensive posture.
What The Future Could HoldThe only durable way to block a U.S. surveillance CBDC is an explicit act of Congress that ties the Fed’s hands, Deaton argues.
But as much progress, guidance, and clarity, @PaulSAtkiinsSEC and @MichaelSelig have provided to the markets, without legislation passed into law – all that guidnace [sic] and clarity can be taken away – as if it never happened – when a new administration takes over.
Both Deaton and Garlinghouse warn that regulatory drift is already driving talent, liquidity and innovation offshore, and that the U.S. risks watching the next generation of financial plumbing get built in Europe, Asia or the Middle East instead.
Clarity on XRP’s status and broader digital‑asset law in the U.S. is already shifting flows into assets seen as “safer” from enforcement risk. Further statutory wins could reinforce that capital rotation.
Cover image from Perplexity, XRPUSDT chart from Tradingview
