Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse advised cryptocurrency startups not to open a business in the U.S. to avoid being harassed by regulators.
Speaking at the Dubai Fintech Week conference, Garlinghaus announced that he intends to expand Ripple’s operations in Dubai and promised that the next conference in November will be held there.
Garlinghouse said that most of the company’s employees are in London, Singapore and Dubai, outside the U.S., because those cities provide an environment for cutting-edge technology.<br
Garlinghouse then took the opportunity to comment on the litigation with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) arguing that XRP is an unregistered security, so the coin should fall under SEC jurisdiction;
Ripple’s executive believes the lawsuit against the company is politically motivated: SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is trying to assert his authority over the crypto space.
Garlinghaus mentioned a video of Gensler from 2018, when he was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Gensler then told students that more than a third of cryptocurrencies are considered commodities.
“What’s happening in the U.S. right now is sad.. The country is putting politics ahead of regulatory rules, and that’s not a good decision.
The United States is definitely stuck. We spent about $200 million on a lawsuit that people thought was nonsense to begin with.
The first piece of advice I would give to any cryptocurrency entrepreneur is not to start a business in the U.S.,” Garlinghouse said.
He added that cryptocurrencies can be regulated in different ways, but it requires clear definitions of digital assets.
And now even the SEC chairman won’t say what it is: Gensler didn’t think cryptocurrencies were securities before, but now he won’t say the same thing anymore, laments Garlinghouse.
Earlier, the Ripple executive lamented that U.S. regulators have resisted developing regulations to regulate the industry, preferring to apply outdated rules to it.