I wouldn't give props to Garlinghouse or Durov for the stuff they came up with. Ripple is shit and so is Telegram and their "privacy-focused" messaging app. Telegram is anything but privacy-focused.
I would agree with your opinion, and I believe many others will agree when it comes to XRP or Telegram. Social networks have become part of the digital society, but Telegram has become an empire of crypto scams - to the extent that I have written several times on the forum that this is an app that every beginner should avoid. These two are far from being put on the list of any crypto kings - but they have definitely both amassed a mountain of money because they have offered the market something that is obviously very popular.
Although the company has had its fair share of problems, especially with the latest SEC lawsuit, Garlinghouse remains positive.
The company has since bounced back and maintains the 4th spot of the best cryptocurrencies in the world.
The best cryptocurrency by what criteria? The only reason they are so high (currently 5th place on CMC) is that the circulating supply of that coin is an incredible 45,404,028,640, and the total supply is 99,990,831,162 - a position secured by tens of billions of tokens and the current price.