# Garlinghouse Says XRP Was No. 2 Before Ripple’s SEC Case By Sonny Jang Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/people/45368 Published: 2026-10-31T07:09:06.000Z Updated: 2026-10-31T07:09:06.000Z Section: People > At Ripple Swell on Oct. 28, he said the legal fight with the government shook some people’s confidence. A market snapshot ranked XRP third 12 days before the SEC filed its case. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said XRP once ranked second by market value behind Bitcoin (BTC), and that the legal fight with the government weakened confidence in the token. “You know, people forget that before the lawsuit, XRP was the second most valuable digital asset after Bitcoin. You know, you get in this fight with the government and people lose some faith,” Garlinghouse said at Ripple Swell in New York on Oct. 28. A Dec. 31, 2017, market snapshot ranked XRP second, with a market capitalization of about $89.1 billion. A later snapshot ranked Ether (ETH) second, at $63.7 billion, and XRP third, at about $26 billion, on Dec. 10, 2020. That was 12 days before the SEC filed its case against Ripple. The two snapshots establish XRP’s rank on those dates but do not show when it moved from second to third. The 2017 figures reflect different supply measures. One snapshot put XRP’s market capitalization at about $89.1 billion. A broader calculation using distributed XRP and tokens held by Ripple, including escrow, at the Dec. 31 closing price put the market value at $191.0 billion. The SEC filed an action against Ripple and two executives on Dec. 22, 2020, alleging they raised more than $1.3 billion through an unregistered digital asset securities offering. The parties’ appeals were dismissed Aug. 7, 2025. The district court’s final judgment, including a $125,035,150 civil penalty and an injunction against Ripple, remained in effect. At Swell, Garlinghouse also discussed Ripple’s efforts to promote blockchain applications and educate the public about the industry. He said the company had been investing more in marketing. His comments revisited [earlier remarks tying XRP’s value to trust, utility and liquidity](). Garlinghouse’s statement about lost confidence is his assessment. The market snapshots show rankings on selected dates; they do not establish that the SEC case caused XRP’s ranking to change or measure its effect on investor confidence. ## Links in this article - [earlier remarks tying XRP’s value to trust, utility and liquidity](https://www.tokenpost.com/news/people/23973)