TL;DR: A March Truth Social post where Trump endorsed XRP, SOL, and ADA for a "Crypto Strategic Reserve" was reportedly drafted by a Ballard Partners lobbyist with ties to Ripple, causing Trump to sever ties with the lobbyist once he discovered the connection.
President Donald Trump reportedly cut ties with a Ripple-linked lobbyist after discovering he had been misled into endorsing specific cryptocurrencies in a Truth Social post about a potential US "Crypto Strategic Reserve."
According to Politico, the controversy surrounds a March post in which Trump claimed his administration would make the US the "Crypto Capital of the World" by including tokens like XRP, Solana, and Cardano in a new reserve system. The post, which caused these tokens to spike in price, was apparently drafted by a lobbyist from Ballard Partners - a firm representing Ripple Labs, the company behind XRP.
Sources told Politico that:
- The lobbyist handed Trump the draft during a Mar-a-Lago donor event
- Trump posted the message unaware of the lobbyist's Ripple connections
- Upon discovering the connection, Trump was "furious" and ordered his team to cut ties
- Trump reportedly stated the lobbyist "is not welcome in anything anymore"
The incident has reportedly frozen out Ballard Partners - led by longtime Trump ally Brian Ballard - from Trump's inner circle, with staff instructed to avoid meetings with the firm despite its $14 million Q1 2025 lobbying revenue and client list including TikTok and BMW.
While Trump later clarified that Bitcoin and Ethereum would also be included in any strategic reserve, the damage to relationships was already done. Neither the White House nor Ripple has commented on the matter.
Will this incident impact Trump's broader crypto strategy going forward?
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