Ripple CEO calls the United States the ‘worst’ country for crypto startups

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse regards the United States as one of the worst places to launch cryptocurrency projects. He said this at the Token 2049 conference in Singapore, according to Cointelegraph.

“The only country in which I would not recommend starting a company right now is the United States,” Garlinghouse stressed.

In his view, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the UAE and Switzerland are jurisdictions with a “smart” approach to regulating digital assets. He urged the United States to adopt this trend, which both encourages innovation and protects consumers.

Garlinghouse blamed the situation on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). With its countless lawsuits, the agency is waging a “political war” on the industry, he explained.

“You can see the trend. In the past, many judges said the SEC was always right, and did not challenge it. But now the picture is changing,” noted the head of the fintech company.

The SEC and Ripple have been involved in court battle since 2020. The agency accused the company of the unregistered sale of XRP securities totaling $1.3 billion. The defendants named in the suit also include Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen.

In July 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found that programmatic sales and other distributions of the token did not constitute an offer and sale of investment contracts. After that the SEC filed an appeal.

The head of Ripple added that the partial victory for his company and Grayscale’s decision on the Bitcoin ETF provide greater regulatory clarity to crypto exchanges and depository providers in the United States.

During the discussion, OKX president Hong Fang acknowledged the shortcomings of local regulatory policy, but urged crypto firms to focus on more pressing issues.

“We can only control what we can control, namely creating the right products, focusing on technology and supporting responsible regulation,” Fang clarified.

Moreover, he views the spot Bitcoin-ETF as a catalyst for institutional inflows, but is not sure investors will be able to tolerate the volatility of the first cryptocurrency.

In September, the SEC appealed Ripple’s stay of its appeal of the judge’s ruling on XRP’s partial designation as a security.