Complaint: Ripple Labs, Inc. (“Ripple”), Bradley Garlinghouse (“Garlinghouse”), and Christian A. Larsen

5. 
Ripple’s Privately-Stated Goal Was to Increase Speculation on the Price of XRP 
324. As these public statements show, speculative investment in XRP was precisely what 
Ripple wanted and promoted—it needed speculative investment for its own stated strategy to be 
successful and to increase the value of and monetize its XRP holdings. 
325. Ripple explicitly stated these goals internally, including in documents describing one 
of the reasons to establish the XRP Escrow as securing speculative liquidity, with the hopes that it 
would lead to “immediate increase in volume and price appreciation.” 
326. Ripple Agent-3’s March 31, 2017 “Q2 [second quarter] XRP Plan Update” email to 
Garlinghouse acknowledged that Ripple was taking most of the steps described above to encourage 
speculative investment in XRP. He also told Garlinghouse that “[t]he goal [was] to drive XRP 
speculative trading volume” and that the “tactics” Ripple planned to undertake to do so included 
“escrow announcement,” “[s]ign[ing] exchanges,” putting out information into the market to “tak[e] 
on skeptics,” and announcing business deals to “[s]park speculation about potential partnerships.” 
Case 1:20-cv-10832 Document 4 Filed 12/22/20 Page 55 of 71

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6. 
XRP’s Characteristics—as Constructed by Ripple—Reasonably Fueled Purchasers’ Expectations 
of Profiting 
327. The very nature of XRP in the market—as constructed and promoted by Ripple—
compels reasonable XRP purchasers to view XRP as an investment. 
328. Except for certain trading volume limitations, XRP is freely transferable or tradeable 
without restrictions the moment it is purchased, and it was offered broadly and widely to all 
potential purchasers, not just those who might be reasonably expected to “use” XRP. 
329. Ripple made certain Institutional Sales of XRP at discounted priced, leading 
purchasers to reasonably expect to profit on their resale of XRP into the public markets. 
330. Moreover, the value of Ripple’s current holdings of XRP (approximately $28 billion 
as of last week) and of XRP’s total market capitalization of approximately $58 billion—given that, as 
Garlinghouse has publicly stated, Ripple “would not be profitable or cash flow positive” without 
selling XRP—demonstrates that XRP investors are speculating that Ripple will achieve its stated 
goals with respect to XRP. In other words, market participants, when they buy XRP, are speculating 
that Ripple’s economic incentives and its promises with respect to XRP will lead it to successfully 
solve the “trillion-dollar problem” that will increase demand for XRP.
331. As Garlinghouse summed it up in a December 29, 2017 interview with Bloomberg 
News, XRP’s current market value and Ripple’s holdings of XRP “gives [them] a huge strategic asset 
to go invest in and accelerate the vision we see for an internet of value. . . . For me this is all . . . 
about an opportunity to participate and accelerate a vision we’ve had for some time.”