Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has strongly criticized the New York Times for what he described as a "hit piece" concerning the new administration of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Garlinghouse contends that the NYT article constructs a false narrative regarding the reasons behind the SEC's decision to drop several cryptocurrency-related cases.

According to Garlinghouse, the New York Times frames the SEC's recent retreat from crypto enforcement as an act of political favoritism. However, the Ripple CEO argues that this retreat is, in fact, a crucial and necessary correction of an "illegal" and legally unsound enforcement strategy that was aggressively pursued by former SEC Chair Gary Gensler. He specifically condemned the NYT for omitting vital context, particularly the instances where federal judges have severely criticized the SEC's conduct during the previous administration's tenure.

Garlinghouse highlighted two significant legal precedents to bolster his argument. First, he referenced the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, where federal judges explicitly labeled the SEC's denial of a Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) as "arbitrary and capricious." Second, he pointed to the Debt Box case, where a federal judge sanctioned the SEC for making "materially false and misleading representations." Garlinghouse asserted that such reporting from the NYT is not genuine journalism but rather an active advancement of "a false and failed narrative."

His criticism has been echoed by other prominent figures within the crypto industry. Paul Grewal, the chief legal officer at Coinbase, also lambasted the New York Times' article, noting that despite its headline and tone implying corruption, the reporters themselves admitted to finding no evidence of such. Grewal argued that if there is no proof of undue pressure or influence, then the narrative of political favoritism is entirely fabricated. Similarly, Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at Galaxy Digital, accused the Times of relying on the "Gell-Mann amnesia effect." Thorn suggested that the Times presumes its readers are too uninformed to recognize that the previous administration's behavior was the true anomaly. He concluded that the prior SEC strategy was both legally and politically unsustainable, stating that the NYT is promoting "crypto dementia" with its biased reporting.