According to Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, support for cryptocurrency regulation is “bipartisan & bicameral” in the United States.
In a Jan. 3 Twitter thread, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that he is “cautiously optimistic” about the United States gaining “breakthrough” regulatory clarity for the cryptocurrency industry in 2023.
On the first day of the 118th Congress, Garlinghouse expressed his hope that 2023 will be the year the United States achieves regulatory clarity for cryptocurrency, adding that support for regulation is “bipartisan & bicameral.”
Garlinghouse stated that the United States was not starting with a “blank slate” for regulation, citing legislation such as the Securities Clarity Act, the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, and the Clarity for Digital Tokens Act as examples.
“The stakes couldn’t be higher,” says Ripple CEO. He went on to say that “no bill is perfect, and there likely will never be one that satisfies everyone,” and that pursuing a perfect bill should not stymie Congress’ progress in developing crypto regulations and legislation.
When it comes to crypto legislation and regulations, the United States lags behind Singapore, the European Union, Brazil, and Japan, according to Garlinghouse.
He claimed that the lack of a coordinated global and domestic effort to implement a regulatory framework “continues to push business to countries [with] lower regulatory bars,” resulting in “sometimes catastrophic results,” such as the implosion of Bahamas-based FTX.
Ripple is a financial technology company that runs the RippleNet global payment network as well as the XRP cryptocurrency. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the United States filed a lawsuit against Ripple in December 2020, alleging that the company sold XRP as an unregistered security.
The SEC claimed that Ripple raised billions of dollars through XRP sales but did not register the offerings as securities as required by law. Ripple denied the allegations, claiming that XRP is a currency rather than a security.
Garlinghouse told panellists at the D.C. Fintech Week conference in October that he expects the case against the firm to be resolved in the first half of 2023, but that it was difficult to predict.
The case is still ongoing, with no clear end date in sight.
