Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse criticized The New York Times, accusing it of publishing biased and misleading stories about the crypto industry after a report on the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) easing crypto enforcement under President Donald Trump’s second term.
Hitting back on X, Garlinghouse said the report was “another crypto hit piece.” He argued that the paper continues to recycle the same narrative while ignoring key court rulings that undermined the SEC’s approach during the Biden administration. He accused the NYT of relying on “half-truths and outright omissions” to justify what he called an “illegal War on Crypto” waged by the previous administration.
“False and Failed Narrative”
Garlinghouse specifically criticized the report for failing to mention multiple federal judges who rebuked the SEC, including US Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn, who said the agency’s leadership failed to show “faithful allegiance to the law,” another who ruled the SEC’s actions were “arbitrary and capricious,” and a third who fined the regulator for making false statements to the court.
He also questioned why the NYT did not publish similar headlines during the Biden years, when the SEC aggressively pursued crypto firms, including Ripple, through what many in the industry viewed as regulation by enforcement. While adding that the coverage was actively advancing a “false and failed narrative,” Garlinghouse wrote,
“This is not journalism.”
His comments came in response to a December 14 investigation by the NYT, which claimed that the SEC has pulled back from more than 60% of ongoing crypto cases since Trump returned to office, pausing litigation, reducing penalties, or dismissing cases altogether.
The report found that several of the benefiting firms, including Ripple, had financial or political ties to Trump, but stated that it found no evidence of direct pressure from the president or of improper influence by the companies. In Ripple’s case, the SEC attempted to reduce a previously court-ordered $125 million penalty to $50 million, a move that was ultimately rejected by a judge.
NYT Coverage “Crypto Dementia”
Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at Galaxy Digital, also criticized the NYT and said that the coverage relied on a false premise. In a post on X, Thorn argued that the report treated the Biden administration’s crackdown on crypto as normal when it was anything but.
Thorn went on to assert that it was dishonest to suggest the regulatory change was driven by Trump’s personal crypto interests. He added,
“This type of reporting relies on the readership being uninformed, which, unfortunately, too many are. This relies on Gell-Mann Amnesia, and the “paper of record” is actively promoting crypto dementia.”
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