Ripple’s chief executive Brad Garlinghouse says there isn’t a level regulatory playing field in the US between Bitcoin its smaller counterparts like XRP.
In a new interview during the virtual DC Fintech Week, Garlinghouse says that while he’s bullish on Bitcoin, the odds are stacked against other crypto assets due to the current regulatory framework.
“The fact that Bitcoin is the most liquid digital asset is a good thing, and once you have that, that’s helpful to the Bitcoin community. Look, by the way, as much as I get accused of being anti-Bitcoin, I own Bitcoin. I’m bullish on Bitcoin for sure.
I think it’s important to understand that those advantages that can start because of an uneven playing field, it’s not just, ‘Oh now we’re on level playing field and it’s going to reset to normal.’ The longer those advantages are in place, the more the competitive dynamics. The moats are created. I think that’s hard to overcome.
That’s why China is looking at a very long, not just a decade out, but maybe a century out and making sure that, look, these underlying technologies really are going to be the underpinnings of the internet of value. It’s going to change the way transactions run across borders, money movement works, where Ripple is focused, but it’s going to change how other transactions work as well. I think China is being very smart, very strategic by investing in this and by having a significant stake in it.
I think it’s going to be a challenge just to, you know [arrive at] ‘Hey the US now has level playing field with these other technologies.’ I’m not just talking about how that benefits the XRP community but others that are doing interesting things that are being responsible players and working with regulators. All we’re asking for is that level playing field.”
Although China is investing $1.4 trillion in the tech industry with blockchain at the top of the list and is testing its own digital asset, the country has also come hard against the trading of cryptocurrencies.
As for Ripple, Garlinghouse says the chatter about Ripple moving out of the US has its basis due to the lack of regulatory clarity.
“In the US, I think it was last week or the week before, the Department of Justice put out a 70-plus-page paper about some dynamics in crypto. In the document, it references eight different groups within the US government that have some sort of opinion about how crypto should be viewed, how crypto should be regulated. The challenge is for companies operating here in the United States, it’s really hard to know. You can’t have regulations that’s a guessing game.
We, at Ripple, take it very seriously. We take KYC requirements, BSA requirements, AML requirements very seriously. But when regulations is a guessing game and you have different parts of the government saying different things, that makes it really hard to operate here in the United States.”
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