Even though regulators have been trying to include crypto and other digital assets into their purview, uncertainty clouds still linger. The US has a cold war between the SEC and the CFTC regarding which body should regulate and control crypto assets.
On its part, the SEC looks over the securities markets, including stocks and bonds. The CFTC, on the other hand, focuses on commodity trading like metals and agriculture. Nonetheless, both regulators have their toes immersed in the crypto space as of now.
The CFTC has assumed the role in crypto because exchanges like the CME have an active Bitcoin and Ethereum futures market. On the other hand, the SEC oversees crypto firms because it considers some tokens as securities based on how they’ve been marketed to participants.
Ripple exec comments on regulations
Commenting on which regulatory body is better suited to regulate crypto in the US, Ripple’s head of Europe, Sendi Young, told Financial News,
“I’m not in a position to say who’s better positioned and who would be favourable. But there are a few things that really make for good policy. One of them is public-private cooperation… Another thing that makes good regulation is clear taxonomy around digital assets.
Several strides have been made in the regulatory landscape in different parts of the world. The European Union, for instance, had been working on the Markets in Crypto Assets [MiCA] framework since 2020, and quite recently, the landmark regulation was given the nod.
Young opined that uncertainty is the biggest threat to innovation and asserted that Ripple is not against regulations. Per her, enforcing the same will help crypto unlock utility.
Talking about the different kinds of approaches adopted by different governments and opinions on which kind Ripple favors, Young said,
“We have outright bans like in China, we have regulation by enforcement in the US, and we have something in between in places like the UK, Europe, Japan, Singapore, UAE, where it is more about creating that framework so that the players can innovate. That third one is certainly the approach that we favour.”
The no a**holes policy
Leaving aside regulations, Ripple has also been expanding its reigns. As highlighted in an article yesterday, right from Asia to Europe and now the UAE, Ripple has directly/indirectly been tapping customers worldwide. Alongside this, the company has been expanding its team internally by hiring new people.
A couple of months back, Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, shared that the company has a “no a**holes’ policy for hiring. It had publicly implemented the same to single out its culture among its peers—many of whom have attracted criticism for how they treat their staff.
Elaborating on how Ripple’s work culture is different, Young said,
“A Forex study recently showed that of the 32 biggest crypto companies in the world, all of the CEOs are male, and in the top eight to 10 crypto companies in their boards there is not even one female. Contrast that to Ripple — of our nine board members we have four females, and other ethnicities represented as well.”
