Trump is urged to promote XRP as a cryptocurrency reserve, report says
A social media post made in March announcing the president's plans for a strategic cryptocurrency reserve would have been published by an employee of a lobbying firm linked to Ripple Labs.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, would have been manipulated by a lobbyist linked to Ripple Labs to announce that the XRP token would be part of his plans for a national cryptocurrency reserve.
According to a report from Politico published on May 8, an employee of the pro-Trump lobbyist Brian Ballard handed the president the text of a social media post, suggesting that he write about the creation of a strategic cryptocurrency reserve in the U.S., which would include
. After posting the message on his social media on March 2, Trump discovered that Ripple was one of Ballard's clients, which made him furious as he felt he had been used, according to Politico, which cited two people familiar with the matter.
"He is no longer welcome anywhere," Trump said about Ballard, according to the report.
Trump already had connections with Ripple before the announcement of XRP as part of the crypto reserve proposal. The company's legal director, Stuart Alderoty, donated over $300,000 to fundraising and political action committees that support Trump in the 2024 elections, and both he and CEO Brad Garlinghouse met with the then-president-elect in January and attended inauguration events.
Ripple also donated $5 million in XRP to Trump's inaugural presidential fund and has been one of the largest donors to Fairshake, a political action committee (PAC) that supports candidates considered 'pro-crypto' through advertising campaigns. A spokesperson for the PAC stated in January that efforts would continue in the 2026 congressional elections.#n|#以太坊Pectra升
Trump advances with plan for crypto reserve days after $XRP
The president often uses his social network to suggest policies before any official White House announcement. On March 6, Trump signed an executive order to create a 'Digital Asset Reserve' — about four days after the post, which was still online at the time of the report.
The price of XRP did not seem to react significantly to the report of May 8. At the time of publication, it was at $2.23, up about 5% in the last 24 hours. Cointelegraph reached out to a spokesperson for Ripple for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
