Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, indicated in a Twitter thread January 3 that he is “cautiously optimistic” about the United States achieving a “breakthrough” of regulatory clarity for the cryptocurrency industry in 2023.
To mark the first day of the 118th Congress, Garlinghouse expressed his hope for 2023 as the year the US achieves regulatory clarity for crypto, adding that his support for regulation is “bipartisan & bicameral.”
Today is the first day of the 118th Congress. While previous efforts for regulatory clarity for crypto in the US have stalled, I am cautiously optimistic that 2023 is the year we will (finally!) see a breakthrough. A thread why…
– Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) January 3, 2023
Garlinghouse said the US is not starting with a “blank slate” for regulation, citing bills such as the Securities Clarity Act, the Responsible Financial Innovation Act and the Clarity for Digital Tokens Act as examples.
According to Ripple’s CEO, “the stock couldn’t be higher.” He added that “there is no such thing as a perfect bill and there will never be one that satisfies everyone” and that trying to work toward a perfect bill will not stop Congress from making progress in creating crypto regulations and laws.
The US is behind Singapore, the European Union, Brazil and Japan when it comes to crypto laws and regulations, Garlinghouse said.
He claimed the lack of coordinated efforts to implement regulatory frameworks around the world and in the U.S. “continues to push business to the states. [with] lower regulatory bar,” resulting in “sometimes catastrophic results”, such as the implosion of the Bahamas-headquarters FTX.
Related: SEC seeks to keep Hinman documents hidden in Ripple case
Ripple is a financial technology company that operates the global payment network RippleNet together with the cryptocurrency XRP (XRP).
In December 2020, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Ripple alleging that the company was selling XRP as an unregistered security.
The SEC claims Ripple raised billions through the sale of XRP and failed to register the offering as a security as required by law. Ripple refutes allegations that XRP is a currency, not a security.
In October, Garlinghouse told panelists at the DC Fintech Week conference that he expected the case against the company to be concluded within the first half of 2023 but admitted that it was difficult to predict.
The case is still ongoing with no clear indication of when it will end.