Ripple leans into AI as it targets a revenue surge in 2026 Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told attendees at the SALT Wyoming Blockchain Symposium on Aug. 20 that the company is aggressively integrating artificial intelligence across its business as it pushes for faster growth and bigger revenues. Calling AI an “enabler and an accelerant,” Garlinghouse said the technology helps companies with existing customer demand scale “better and faster and stronger.” Hiring push, but not a blanket replacement narrative Garlinghouse said Ripple employs roughly 1,500 people worldwide and has about 150 open roles as it expands. (A review of Ripple’s public careers portal showed 94 listings, a gap the company attributes to positions not posted publicly or recruitment via other channels.) Some job descriptions explicitly link engineering strategy with AI: one senior role asks for an “AI native operation” using agentic development methods to grow Ripple’s payout network without solely relying on headcount increases. Rejecting the idea that AI is the main driver of corporate layoffs, Garlinghouse argued some companies use AI as a pretext to cut staff that were previously “bloated.” That comment reflects his view of recent workforce reductions rather than independent evidence about specific employer motives. Businesses cite many reasons for layoffs, including automation, restructuring, costs and shifts in customer demand. Bold revenue guidance — but still private Ripple expects a record year and says it will “more than double revenue year on year.” As a privately held company, Ripple does not publish audited quarterly financials, so this projection remains company guidance rather than independently verified results. Expansion beyond cross-border payments Garlinghouse framed the outlook through Ripple’s long-term focus on financial infrastructure for institutions. The company has moved well beyond its original cross-border payments roots through acquisitions and new services: - In October 2025 Ripple closed a $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road and rebranded it Ripple Prime. Ripple says the prime brokerage arm now clears more than $3 trillion annually for 300+ institutional customers and had tripled in size between the acquisition announcement and close — a company-supplied metric that has not been publicly audited. - Ripple has also expanded into corporate treasury management after acquiring treasury-software provider GTreasury and launching an enterprise platform for managing digital assets and liquidity. Ripple executives see AI and blockchain working together Ripple President Monica Long echoed the AI thesis in the firm’s 2026 predictions, saying AI models could operate alongside blockchains to automate tasks such as liquidity management, margin calls and portfolio rebalancing. The company frames AI as a force-multiplier for teams — increasing output and enabling service to more customers and markets, rather than a wholesale replacement of employees with autonomous systems. What to watch next The clearest near-term tests of Ripple’s claims will be its hiring activity and whether it hits its revenue target. Any eventual IPO would bring audited financials into the public domain, but Ripple has not announced a timetable for going public. A final caveat for crypto markets: Ripple’s commercial growth does not automatically translate into demand for XRP. Ripple the company is privately held and distinct from the XRP token, and many of Ripple’s institutional services can scale without creating direct, immediate demand for XRP. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news