The President of the United States, Joe Biden signed the cryptocurrency executive order on Wednesday, and ever since there has been an active discussion over the future of crypto in the country. Adding to the sea of opinions was Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of financial technology company Ripple Labs, who was pleasantly surprised by the executive order and noted that it “exceeded” his expectations.
Garlinghouse has been in the middle of a regulatory battle in the country as it continues to fights the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] in court over the sales of XRP through an unregistered offering. Garlinghouse along with many other crypto proponents have been yearning for appropriate regulations for the field for businesses and technology to flourish. Now, with the latest executive order, Ripple’s Chief executive believed that the government has acknowledged the need to regulate this advancing field and could catalyze solutions that we have not seen yet.
Garlinghouse appeared on CNBC recently and stated,
“The first step to solving a problem is acknowledging you have one. And for me the executive order is calling out something we have been saying for years, that one, this is a massive industry- it is not going away. We have tens and millions of US citizens participating in various ways, which is awesome.”
However, Ripple CEO added that the country has had a “fragmented and siloed approach to regulations” which has also impacted its leadership when it comes to cryptocurrencies. Nevertheless, with the executive order out, Garlinghous was hopeful of the future of the industry.
“So, I thought it was a very positive evolution and am hopeful it will catalyze solutions we have not seen yet,” stated Garlinghouse.
The decision of the United States to be more involved with regulating this industry comes in the wake of serious competition in the field. In many other countries like Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, and even the UAE, the idea was not to thwart technology but to support it. Therefore, many crypto businesses were able to establish with a fair clarity of the regulations.
Whereas in the United States, where the SEC was seen taking lead in some cases was brought to question. As pointed out by Garlinghouse, this executive order in a way notes that the SEC cannot singularly lead it should be done alongside Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC] and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau [CFPB].
Ripple vs SEC
It has been almost a year and a half since the ‘Ripple vs SEC’ case began. The process has been dragged out and the community members were waiting for it to get over. Per Garlinghouse, they have wrapped up the expert discovery and was seeing delay from the SEC’s end.
He added,
“I’m hopeful and optimistic that we will see some decisions around key elements that are before the court today. Maybe, within weeks we will see- I think the questions that the court has been asking have been very thoughtful and I’m hopeful we will get some clarity soon.”