Chris Larsen told CoinDesk on Nov. 1, 2016, that he would step down as Ripple's chief executive officer. The title would pass to Brad Garlinghouse, the company's president and chief operating officer1. American Banker's independent report, published the same day, said the change would take effect Jan. 1, 2017. Larsen would stay on as executive chairman2. He had led Ripple for about four years and raised close to $100 million for the company, CoinDesk reported.
Two of Ripple's 12 leadership moves on the record came in 2016
Leadership moves CryptoLately has verified at Ripple, by year
- 2016: 2
- 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 2 |
| 2017 | 0 |
| 2018 | 0 |
| 2019 | 2 |
| 2020 | 1 |
| 2021 | 2 |
| 2022 | 1 |
| 2023 | 2 |
Two CEO exits on the record in 2016
CEO exits CryptoLately has verified, by year
- 2016: 2
- 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 2 |
| 2017 | 3 |
| 2018 | 2 |
| 2019 | 7 |
| 2020 | 9 |
| 2021 | 5 |
| 2022 | 18 |
| 2023 | 11 |
The handoff
Larsen framed his exit as a matter of timing. “We've got this great position and now we want to jump to the next lily pad, which is scaling,” he told CoinDesk1. American Banker quoted him making the same point in different words. “You can make smooth transitions like this when you're in a strong position,” Larsen said2. He wanted to spend more time with his family. Chairman duties, he said, would still bring him into Ripple's San Francisco office daily.
The numbers behind the decision were real. Ripple had signed 15 of the world's 50 largest banks as customers. The list included Standard Chartered, National Australia Bank and Mizuho, American Banker reported2. Ripple had also raised $55 million in a September 2016 Series B round and formed a steering group of banks, among them Bank of America and Santander, to set standards for distributed-ledger payments. CoinDesk counted 30 completed bank pilots and 10 banks in commercial deal phases at the time of the announcement1.
Larsen and Garlinghouse before and after
Ripple traces to 2012. Larsen co-founded the company after earlier building the online mortgage lender E-Loan and the marketplace lender Prosper, American Banker reported2. Garlinghouse had been Ripple's president for 18 months when the change was announced on Nov. 1, 2016, American Banker reported. He arrived from Hightail, a file-sharing company where he had served as chief executive, and from senior roles at Yahoo and AOL before that1. Larsen remained Ripple's controlling shareholder after moving to the chairman's role, Garlinghouse told CoinDesk. Garlinghouse told CoinDesk his first priority was hiring 30 new employees. He planned to keep Ripple's focus on cross-border payments, the field it had built its name in.
What came next
Garlinghouse still held the chief executive title on Sept. 30, 2026. A Coinpedia report carried through TradingView quoted him on Sept. 30, 2026, on XRP's role in Ripple's payments strategy, nearly ten years after Larsen passed him the job3. Ripple had spent four years and about $150 million defending its case against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the report said. Garlinghouse pointed to a court's finding that XRP itself falls outside the definition of a security. Ripple had since acquired the treasury management company GTreasury, and companies using GTreasury handled about $13 trillion in payments the prior year, Garlinghouse said.
Sources
- Michael del Castillo, "Former AOL Exec Named Ripple CEO as Chris Larsen Steps Down," CoinDesk, Nov. 1, 2016, https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2016/11/01/former-aol-exec-named-ripple-ceo-as-chris-larsen-steps-down
- American Banker, "Chris Larsen stepping down as CEO at Ripple," American Banker, Nov. 1, 2016, https://www.americanbanker.com/payments/news/chris-larsen-stepping-down-as-ceo-at-ripple
- Coinpedia (via TradingView), "Brad Garlinghouse Says XRP Has a Specific Role in Ripple's Payments Strategy," TradingView, Sept. 30, 2026, https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMi0gFBVV95cUxNNmUwdjRCcndrXzFNUVFFQ2Z2eF9sUjZpN1lBZTFqMjdtN1dseGRPNzhNV2R1YnQtMWl3cEdxNkhTWlFyNno3OElBdjN6cGMwQkYycVU5akdkNUxNcWtfbzRtM1VxMTFsZFh5SEh1VzRmVnZoNzN0SC1aWVRkdEt4SU85NDloWnVNTDlkSHBvR3BQRmJVVXlJS3c3eWVScC1COEo1ODQ0SXhVVHRvY3IzQkZ1Mk9HaGdsc052LTZzUTJiUEZSZDRzVW1sVEtyeE1Vd3c?oc=5