- Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told President Trump on Thursday that 67 million Americans, nearly one in four adults, now own crypto.
- That figure comes from a National Cryptocurrency Association survey. Ripple gave the NCA a $50 million grant to launch it in March 2025, and Ripple’s chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, is the NCA’s president.
- The Senate holds a cloture vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on September 15, a vote that needs 60 votes to advance.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told President Donald Trump on Thursday that 67 million Americans, nearly one in four U.S. adults, now own cryptocurrency. He made the claim in a post on X after a White House meeting that also included SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC Chair Michael Selig, writing that the number proves “crypto isn’t a fringe industry.”
Great to be back at the White House today alongside @realDonaldTrump, @SECPaulSAtkins, @ChairmanSelig and leaders across the crypto industry.
The big picture has never been clearer: 67 million Americans hold crypto today (that’s nearly 1 in 4!). Crypto isn’t a fringe industry.… pic.twitter.com/fsyX1ZwG2a
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) August 20, 2026
The number itself comes from an organization Ripple built. The National Cryptocurrency Association launched in March 2025 with a $50 million grant from Ripple. It calls itself “the country’s leading independent nonprofit dedicated to crypto education.” Its president is Stuart Alderoty, who is also Ripple’s chief legal officer, amid broader scrutiny of the Chris Larsen APEC investment and Ripple’s political activity.
How the 67 Million Figure Gained Political Weight
Garlinghouse has used a version of this stat before. At the NCA’s launch in March 2025, he cited a lower figure: 55 million Americans holding and using crypto. The NCA’s own 2026 State of Crypto Holders Report, published in May, put the number at 67 million, a 12 million increase it attributed to the past year.
In July, Alderoty used the same 67 million figure to push back on a characterization of crypto’s political weight as small, arguing that treating a quarter of the U.S. adult population as a rounding error was a mistake. Five weeks later, Garlinghouse cited the identical number to the president himself. The pushback moved from Ripple’s top lawyer, defending the NCA’s own data, to Ripple’s chief executive, presenting it to the White House as independent evidence of mainstream adoption.
What the Survey Actually Counted
The NCA’s report is based on a Harris Poll of 10,000 people who already hold crypto, fielded between February 12 and March 3, 2026, not a random sample of the general adult population. That distinction matters for a figure being used to argue crypto has moved into the mainstream: the survey measured how existing holders feel, then extrapolated a national ownership estimate from that base.
Ripple isn’t the only crypto company that has commissioned this kind of study. Grayscale published a similar industry-funded ownership survey with the same pollster, Harris Poll, in March 2025. What sets the NCA apart is that Ripple’s own chief legal officer sits at the top of the group producing the numbers Ripple’s CEO now cites as neutral evidence.
Broader Data Points to Lower Adoption
Not every group reads U.S. crypto sentiment the same way. Better Markets, a financial-reform advocacy group, has pointed to a Federal Reserve figure showing only 7% of U.S. adults reported using crypto in 2023, and to Pew Research Center polling in which 63% of Americans said they have little to no confidence that current ways to trade or use crypto are safe. Those figures measure different things than the NCA’s holder-only survey, but they capture a public far more skeptical than “one in four” suggests.
The Vote This Is Aimed At
Garlinghouse’s post landed 26 days before the Senate is scheduled to hold a cloture vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the industry’s central legislative priority, which needs 60 votes to move forward. The messaging also comes as Ripple expands its regulated presence in Europe, following its Ripple MiCA license approval to provide crypto-asset services under the EU’s regulatory framework. The bill already missed an earlier July 4 target and a further attempt in early August before Senate Majority Leader John Thune set the September 15 date.
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