Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, believes that the United States is currently one of the worst places to launch a cryptocurrency startup. He made this statement on a Sept. 12 panel at Token 2049 Singapore.
Garlinghouse believes that the U.S. needs to learn from countries like Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates and implement policies that promote crypto innovation and protect consumers. He claimed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuits against the industry were part of a political battle.
However, Garlinghouse is hopeful that the momentum is starting to shift, citing Grayscale’s court wins against the SEC as evidence. He believes this provides more clarity to crypto exchanges and custody providers operating in the U.S.
OKX President Hong Fang also spoke on the panel, stating that crypto firms must focus on what they can control, such as building the right product and supporting responsible regulation.
Despite the U.S. market being large, Garlinghouse said they are expanding services to countries he claims are more progressive and better understand the potential benefits of blockchain technology.
Fang did acknowledge that an upcoming spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund will lead to more institutional inflows, but she isn’t convinced that investors can now stomach Bitcoin’s volatility and second-guessed the readiness of continuing to build more applications on top of Bitcoin. She believes that a new monetary system hasn’t come to fruition yet and that the industry infrastructure may not yet be ready for it.
