Ripple has opened a new office in Washington, D.C. to educate policymakers for cryptocurrency and blockchain in general.
Recently, Ripple announced a new office in Washington, D.C. which will be lead by Michelle Bond. As they describe the new premises, they chose this location deliberately in order to be closer to the White House and the U.S. government, in general. They want to educate the policymakers on the massive benefits that cryptocurrencies and blockchain offers to the world of finance and technology. Ripple has previously set a plan for a global expansion in order to “spread the word” about their new technology and payment systems.
Also, just recently, a former assistant to the U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Craig Phillips has joined Ripple’s board of directors. The company believes that he will bring depth to its policy leadership team and advise on “strategic regulatory opportunities” as the company continues to grow. Ripple has other new members to their team as well. For example, Susan Friedman, a senior adviser to CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert. Additionally, Ron Hammond, who is a former legislative assistant to Rep. Warren Davidson. It looks like Ripple has collected all the top assistants to top U.S. government officials.
“In the U.S. and abroad, it’s important for policymakers to be armed with industry knowledge to help them shape conditions that will enable technological innovation to thrive. At Ripple, we look forward to continued conversations with policymakers and are building a team that brings a wealth of legislative and policy experience,” in such a manner Ripple commented on their recent expansion.
Moreover, it is worth mentioning that Ripple, as of now, has become a member of the Blockchain Association. The Blockchain Association is a significantly meaningful unit in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. It stands for good relationships between blockchain companies that are building various solutions to the current system. It itself aims to advocate the blockchain space to governments by connecting these companies and educating governments on why would they need such a new technology.
“Every federal regulator is looking at this space and trying to figure out how to regulate it, and having a DC presence is essential to smart and effective regulation. We’re focused on maintaining a dialogue with Washington regulators and policymakers and being a resource to the Hill allows us to be easily accessible at all times,” commented Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple.
It turns out that Ripple, by far, is the only crypto/blockchain company that has managed to expand to Washington.
“I can’t speak to what other companies are doing, but Ripple has welcomed conversations with regulators and governments from the beginning – we sat on the Federal Reserve Faster Payments Task Force, are part of the IMF’s Fintech Advisory Board, hosted a summit for central banks to learn about blockchain and we continue to engage with 50+ governments worldwide – and establishing an office here is a natural extension of that work,” explained Garlinghouse.
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