Trump Induced by Lobbyist to Announce Inclusion of XRP in National Crypto Reserve Plan
Former U.S. President Donald Trump was prompted to announce the inclusion of XRP tokens in his national cryptocurrency reserve plan by a lobbyist linked to Ripple Labs. As reported by Politico on May 8, a collaborator of pro-Trump lobbyist Brian Ballard provided Trump with a text for publication on social media, suggesting the announcement of a strategic U.S. crypto reserve, including XRP, Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA). After publishing the message on his social media platform on March 2, Trump discovered Ballard's connection to Ripple, feeling exploited and expressing irritation. Trump stated that Ballard "is no longer welcome".
Trump's connection to Ripple predates this announcement. Ripple's General Counsel, Stuart Alderoty, donated over $300,000 to Trump's 2024 election fundraising campaigns and political action committees, and he, along with CEO Brad Garlinghouse, met with the then-elect president in January and participated in inauguration events. Ripple also donated the equivalent of $5 million in XRP to Trump's presidential inauguration fund and is a significant contributor to the Fairshake political action committee, which supports "pro-crypto" candidates.
Days after the publication of the message on social media, Trump signed an executive order creating a "digital asset reserve," and the message remained on his platform at the time of the report. The price of XRP showed little reaction to the report, trading at $966,318,704,952.23 at the time of publication, with an approximate increase of 5% in the last 24 hours. Cointelegraph attempted to contact Ripple's spokesperson but received no response.
