Ripple has drawn attention from a wider range of public figures than most cryptocurrencies, from musicians and actors to a former US president and, more recently, the federal judge whose ruling shaped how XRP is treated under securities law. 

Here are five people connected to Ripple’s story, and why each one matters.

Snoop Dogg

Snoop Dogg, who also went by Snoop Lion for a stretch starting in 2013, performed at Ripple’s community meetup during the 2018 Consensus Conference, an appearance that preceded the announcement of the XRP rebrand. 

He has not publicly confirmed investing in or holding XRP himself, so his connection to Ripple is based on that appearance rather than any stated personal endorsement. 

Some speculation at the time suggested he may have been compensated partly in XRP for the performance, though this was never officially confirmed.

Ashton Kutcher

Known for roles in shows like That ’70s Show and Punk’d, Kutcher is also an active tech investor and one of XRP’s more vocal celebrity supporters. 

In May 2018, he and business partner Guy Oseary donated $4 million worth of XRP to Ellen DeGeneres’s wildlife charity fund, telling DeGeneres on her show, “You’re always thinking about everyone else. We wanted to show you that people are thinking about you.” 

He also gave viewers a plain-language explanation of the platform at the time. “Ripple is basically a platform to allow people to transfer money from bank account to bank account, person to person, really securely, really simply, really quickly.” 

Kutcher co-founded the venture capital firm A-Grade Investments and has backed more than 60 tech companies and startups, including Skype, Foursquare, Airbnb, Path, and Fab.com.

Madonna

In 2018, Madonna used her public platform to support a Ripple-linked charitable campaign, aiming to raise donations for orphans in Malawi through XRP for her 60th birthday. 

After announcing the partnership, Ripple said it would match donations made through Madonna’s Facebook page. 

The initial target was $60,000, but the campaign ultimately raised roughly $200,000 from about 800 individual donors. 

Ripple’s then-Senior Vice President of Operations, Eric van Miltenburg, said at the time, “We’re honored to be a part of Raising Malawi’s amazing work with some of the world’s most underserved children and are grateful to our investors at Sound Ventures for making the introduction to us and this important cause.”

Bill Clinton

The former US president was invited as the keynote speaker at Ripple’s Swell conference in San Francisco in 2018. 

Ripple said it chose Clinton because he had helped “usher in a period of extreme growth and adoption of the Internet, shaping what it is today.” 

Clinton spoke favorably about distributed ledger technology’s cross-border potential, calling its possibilities “staggering” and noting it relies on no national borders. 

“This whole blockchain deal has the potential it does only because it is applicable across national borders, income groups. The permutations and possibilities are staggeringly great,” he said, though he also cautioned that poor policy choices could undermine that potential.

Judge Analisa Torres

Judge Analisa Torres is not a celebrity endorser like the other names on this list, but her role in Ripple’s story carries more direct legal weight than any of them. 

As the federal judge overseeing the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Torres issued a 2023 summary judgment ruling that found programmatic sales of XRP on public exchanges did not, on their own, constitute the sale of unregistered securities, a distinction that gave Ripple a meaningful legal win specifically around how XRP trades in secondary markets. 

Her ruling was not a blanket victory for Ripple across every claim in the case, since she separately found that certain institutional sales made directly to sophisticated investors did violate securities registration requirements. 

Taken together, her decision became one of the most closely watched rulings in US crypto regulatory history, cited repeatedly in later discussions about how existing securities law applies to digital assets sold on public markets.

Frequently Asked Questions

Need a refresher? Here are the questions readers often ask about Ripple’s celebrity ties and its landmark legal ruling.

Did any of these celebrities invest their own money in XRP?

Only Ashton Kutcher has a clearly documented direct connection to XRP, through the $4 million donation he and Guy Oseary made to Ellen DeGeneres’s charity fund in 2018. Snoop Dogg’s involvement was limited to a paid appearance, and Madonna’s campaign centered on a charitable donation drive rather than a personal investment.

What was Judge Analisa Torres’s ruling about?

Her 2023 summary judgment ruling addressed whether XRP sales constituted unregistered securities offerings under US law. She found that sales on public exchanges, where buyers didn’t necessarily know they were purchasing directly from Ripple, did not meet that legal standard, while certain direct institutional sales did. It was a mixed ruling, not a complete win for either side.

How did the SEC lawsuit affect XRP’s price and Ripple’s operations?

The lawsuit created years of regulatory uncertainty that weighed on XRP’s price and limited some exchange listings while the case was active. Judge Torres’s 2023 ruling eased some of that uncertainty by clarifying that exchange sales of XRP were not unregistered securities offerings.

Why does Ripple attract this much celebrity and public attention compared to other cryptocurrencies?

Much of it traces back to Ripple’s early strategy of partnering with banks and financial institutions, which gave the project mainstream visibility beyond typical crypto circles, combined with high-profile marketing moments like the Consensus Conference performance and the Swell conference keynote that put well-known public figures directly in front of a wider audience.

Has Ripple continued building relationships with well-known figures since 2018?

Ripple has continued expanding its institutional partnerships and banking relationships, which our piece on Ripple’s biggest bank partners covers in more detail.