Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has put a clear number on the company’s 2026 business goal. 

According to posts shared by CoinMarketCap and crypto-focused accounts on X, Ripple expects to end 2026 with a $1 billion revenue run rate. The figure does not include XRP held on Ripple’s balance sheet.

That detail matters because Ripple has long faced public debate over the link between its business and XRP. Garlinghouse’s target frames the company as a fintech infrastructure provider that aims to earn money from products, clients, and services, not from token holdings or sales.

Hidden Road, RLUSD and AI payments drive business push

Ripple has expanded beyond cross-border payments during the past year. The company agreed to buy prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion in 2025, a deal that added credit, clearing, and prime brokerage services for large clients. Ripple said Hidden Road clears about $3 trillion a year across markets.

The deal also supports Ripple USD, known as RLUSD. Ripple has promoted the stablecoin for enterprise settlement and collateral use. Recently, crypto.news reported that Ripple is also adding RLUSD to new payment tools, including services tied to AI agents and machine payments on the XRP Ledger.

Company materials point to custody, treasury management, and liquidity services as core offerings. These products target banks and firms that need faster settlement, account control, and access to digital assets through regulated processes, rather than retail trading.

XRP demand stays separate from company revenue

Crypto.news data showed XRP trading near $1.15 on June 14, while XRP-linked ETF products recorded inflows for a fifth straight week. As reported earlier today, XRP products added about $10.68 million in the week ended June 12, even as Bitcoin and Ethereum funds saw outflows during the same period.

Those figures show that investor demand for XRP can move on a different track from Ripple’s operating business. Garlinghouse’s “not including XRP” point places the revenue target outside daily price action. It also gives banks, payment firms, and corporate treasurers a clearer way to judge Ripple’s core business.

Regulation remains part of Ripple’s 2026 plan

Ripple’s growth plan also sits next to a busy U.S. policy calendar. As previously reported, the CLARITY Act cleared the Senate Banking Committee by a 15-9 vote on May 14, 2026. The bill still needs more work before a full Senate vote, including a merger with text from the Agriculture Committee.

Garlinghouse has backed clearer rules for digital assets, saying banks need more legal certainty before they move deeper into crypto services. For Ripple, a rulebook could support payments, custody, liquidity, treasury tools, stablecoins, and token settlement in the United States.

Ripple has also moved into automated payments. As rypto.news reported on June 13, the company released the XRPL AI Starter Kit, which lets AI agents use XRP and RLUSD for payments through the x402 protocol with limited human involvement. The tool allows software agents to create wallets, check balances, track transactions, and send payments.

Bitcoin (BTC) circled $64,000 into Sunday’s weekly close as a US-Iran peace deal appeared imminent.

Key points:

• Bitcoin stays higher as US president Donald Trump pledges an Iran peace deal on Sunday.
• The Strait of Hormuz, a key global oil route, will be “open to all,” he says.
• Bitcoin analysis says no bearish chart patterns are active as open interest hints at a lasting price rebound.

Iran peace deal keeps Bitcoin rebound afloat

Data from TradingView showed price action settling after local highs of $64,750 on Bitstamp.

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

These had accompanied an announcement by US president Donald Trump that a peace deal would be signed on Sunday.

“The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Source: Truth Social

Among traders, there was fresh hope that sell pressure on Bitcoin was easing as a result. Trader SuperBro noted that the 200-week simple moving average (SMA) was holding as support.

“In a word, constructive,” they summarized about low-time frame BTC price action in a post on X.

SuperBro dismissed concerns about a bearish breakdown pattern being in play, instead focusing on a point of control (nPOC) level on exchange order books above current spot price.

“$65K-$67K is a big test, at the last swing low and volume POC. If we can rip through this zone then the bear case takes a massive hit,” they concluded.

BTC/USD one-day chart. Source: SuperBro/X

Cointelegraph previously reported on misgivings about the 200-week SMA, which history had shown to be “unreliable” as a bear-market safety net.

Key BTC price setup “finally happening”

Continuing, trading account Cryptic Trades eyed a key combination of rising open interest and falling funding rates on exchanges.

Related: Bitcoin miner ‘capitulation’ comes as trader sees later 2026 bear-market bottom

“It’s finally happening,” it told X followers about what could support more sustainable BTC price strength.

Cryptic Trades suggested that current conditions showed a lack of belief on the part of bulls, removing the risk of new longs getting trapped before a new downturn.

“In other words, these aren’t longs aggressively chasing the move. These are bears doubling down, increasing their short positions, and betting that the downtrend isn’t over,” it explained.

“This is exactly the kind of setup that generally marks durable bottoms. The market starts moving higher, sentiment remains overwhelmingly bearish, and the most keep leaning the bearish. This is how aggressive short squeezes are born.”

BTC liquidation heatmap. Source: CoinGlass

Data from CoinGlass showed that the local highs coincided with a large band of potential short liquidations.

Bitcoin mining difficulty fell 10.09% after lower prices pushed weaker miners offline and slowed block production.

Bitcoin difficulty records sharp June drop

Bitcoin completed one of its largest downward mining difficulty changes at block 953,568. Galaxy Research data cited by WuBlockchain showed the difficulty fell from 138.96T to 124.93T. The move ranked as Bitcoin’s 11th-largest downward adjustment and the second-largest drop recorded so far this year.

Mining difficulty controls how hard miners must work to add new Bitcoin blocks. It changes every 2,016 blocks to keep the network close to a 10-minute block time. When miners leave the network and blocks arrive too slowly, the system lowers difficulty so active miners can find blocks more easily.

Miner margins tightened after Bitcoin price weakness

The adjustment followed a weak start to June for Bitcoin. Galaxy Research said Bitcoin’s price fell about 15% during the month, which cut miner revenue and forced some operators to switch off less efficient machines. 

“Bitcoin completed its 11th-largest downward difficulty adjustment,” WuBlockchain reported, citing Galaxy Research.

The longer mining cycle showed the scale of the slowdown. The previous epoch lasted 15.6 days instead of the usual target of about 14 days. That delay showed that less hashrate was competing for rewards before the network reset difficulty lower.

During that stretch, the network produced blocks slower than planned, which is the condition that triggers a downward retarget under Bitcoin’s rules for miners.

Active miners may see better output

TheEnergyMag had earlier expected difficulty to fall by about 9.55%. The final adjustment came in deeper, at 10.09%. That drop may allow miners still running machines to produce more Bitcoin with the same active hashrate. It may also lift hashprice, or miner revenue per unit of computing power, back above $30 per PH/s.

The relief may not help every operator equally. Miners with newer machines and lower power costs are better placed to gain from lower difficulty. Older rigs remain exposed if Bitcoin prices fall again or energy costs stay high. The adjustment gives miners breathing room, but it does not remove pressure from tight margins.

AI data centers compete for mining power

The hashrate decline also comes as more mining firms move power capacity toward high-performance computing and AI data centers. Crypto.news has reported several examples of this shift. Core Scientific plans to turn its Pecos, Texas Bitcoin mining site into a large AI data center campus, including the repurposing of 300 megawatts of mining power.

TeraWulf also showed how the business mix is changing. The company reported $21 million in HPC hosting revenue in the first quarter of 2026, above its Bitcoin mining revenue for the same period. HIVE Digital has also announced a 320 MW AI infrastructure project near Toronto that is designed to host more than 100,000 GPUs.

Michael Saylor, founder and chairman of Strategy, said Bitcoin treasury firms need more than one measure to track their exposure to Bitcoin. 

In a set of posts on X on June 14, he drew a line between Bitcoin Per Share, or BPS, and Common Equity Bitcoin Exposure BPS, also called CEBE BPS.

“BPS measures Bitcoin per common share before senior claims. CEBE BPS measures Bitcoin per common share after senior claims,” Saylor wrote.

He added that CEBE is the conservative risk metric, while BPS tracks common equity growth. He also said BTC Yield measures BPS execution. The explanation aimed to separate growth math from balance sheet risk.

Debt changes how investors read Bitcoin exposure

The comments focused on how debt, preferred stock, and other senior claims can change the value left for common shareholders. In Saylor’s framing, BPS shows the amount of Bitcoin linked to each common share before those claims. CEBE BPS shows the amount after those claims.

Saylor said liability duration matters. “The shorter the liability duration, the more CEBE matters. The longer the duration, the more BPS matters,” he wrote. He said CEBE BPS would carry more weight if claims came due today. BPS would better show equity upside if Bitcoin grows faster than dividend costs.

Amplification can help or hurt shareholders

Saylor also introduced amplification as the gap between BPS and CEBE BPS. He said that without debt or preferred stock, BPS and CEBE BPS would be the same, and a Bitcoin treasury company would track Bitcoin in a way closer to an ETF.

He said higher liabilities can make the two metrics diverge. That structure can raise returns if Bitcoin grows faster than the cost of capital. It can also increase risk if the company uses short-term or expensive claims. “Not all liabilities are equal, ” Saylor wrote. The claim places funding terms at the center of any Bitcoin treasury model.

Strategy’s recent moves add market context

The remarks came after a volatile period for Strategy and its Bitcoin treasury model. As crypto.news reported, Strategy sold 32 BTC between May 26 and May 31 at an average price of $77,135, raising about $2.5 million. The sale marked its first reported Bitcoin sale since December 2022.

Moreover, the sale drew attention because Strategy has long presented Bitcoin as its main treasury reserve asset. The amount represented a small share of its holdings, but the event increased market focus on preferred stock dividends, cash needs, and the balance between Bitcoin growth and funding costs.

Funding costs remain central to the debate

Strategy later raised about $181 million through MSTR share sales and bought 1,550 BTC for about $101.3 million, as previously reported. The company’s Bitcoin holdings rose to 845,256 BTC, while its cash reserves increased to about $1 billion.

Those figures make Saylor’s new explanation timely. His comments point investors toward a broader reading of Bitcoin treasury firms, where total Bitcoin holdings, Bitcoin per share, senior claims, liability duration, and capital costs all shape common shareholder exposure. 

Meanwhile, his main message was that CEBE BPS tracks risk, while BPS tracks growth. For common shareholders, the difference rests on whether Bitcoin appreciation can cover liability costs over the full financing cycle across calm and stressed markets.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has introduced stricter requirements for virtual asset service providers (VASPs), requiring them to apply deeper screening, monitoring, and delisting procedures for cryptocurrencies offered to customers. 

The move comes as regulators continue to strengthen oversight of the country’s digital asset market.

The new guidance requires VASPs to establish a “robust due diligence and accreditation process” before listing virtual assets on their platforms, according to a memorandum issued by BSP Deputy Governor Lyn Javier.

BSP sets broader standards for token listings

Under the memorandum, VASPs must evaluate virtual assets across six areas: issuer background, market maturity, use cases, transparency and security, redemption and liquidity, and legal compliance. The BSP said exchanges should gather sufficient information to assess the quality and risks of assets before making them available to customers.

The central bank said exchanges may review corporate documents, ownership structures, audited financial statements, beneficial ownership information, and fitness checks involving company directors and officers. The review process may also include examining possible conflicts of interest involving issuers, regulators, government officials, or related entities.

For market maturity, VASPs may assess factors such as market capitalization, trading volume, years in operation, exchange support, and the number of on-chain holders. Regulators said these indicators can help determine whether an asset has established market activity and sufficient liquidity.

Stablecoins and reserve backing receive closer attention

The BSP placed additional focus on asset-backed and fiat-backed virtual assets. Exchanges may be required to examine how tokens are issued, redeemed, minted, and burned, as well as the mechanisms used to maintain price stability.

The memorandum also directs VASPs to review reserve composition and verify whether backing assets can support redemption requests. According to the BSP, liquidity, reserve quality, and withdrawal rights are important factors in maintaining market confidence and supporting orderly trading conditions.

The regulator further said project whitepapers should be readily accessible to users. These documents should include information on tokenomics, supported blockchains, project goals, purchasing methods, and risks related to money laundering, cybersecurity, governance, liquidity, and consumer protection.

Continuous monitoring and delisting requirements

Beyond initial listings, the BSP now requires VASPs to continuously monitor listed assets and establish thresholds that could trigger suspension or delisting. Exchanges must track whether assets continue to meet the standards used during the approval process.

Tokens may be suspended or removed because of adverse market developments, cybersecurity incidents, legal violations, misleading disclosures, consumer protection concerns, market abuse, or unusual price movements. The BSP said exchanges should act immediately when serious risks emerge.

The central bank also reaffirmed that anonymity-enhancing cryptocurrencies, commonly known as privacy coins, remain prohibited from being listed or supported by licensed VASPs.

New rules arrive amid broader crypto regulation efforts

The latest measures arrive as Philippine regulators continue refining the framework governing digital asset businesses. The BSP’s action follows ongoing efforts by the country’s regulators to ensure crypto service providers operate under clearer standards and stronger compliance requirements.

The development also comes shortly after Binance sought a regulated path back into the Philippines through a partnership with BlockShoals Technologies under the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission’s StratBox sandbox program. As previously reported by crypto.news, Binance said the arrangement would allow it to test services within a supervised regulatory environment.

However, recent reports indicated that neither Binance nor BlockShoals currently holds a BSP-issued VASP license, with the central bank stating that participation in the SEC sandbox does not replace licensing requirements for virtual asset services.

Binance has been pursuing a regulated return to the Philippine market through the SEC’s sandbox framework after facing licensing-related restrictions in the country.