Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has said that no matter who ultimately prevails in the U.S. presidential election, the cryptocurrency industry is in for a “reset”. He said this in the 8th Annual Washington DC Fintech Week, taking the opportunity to present the current state of the crypto industry, as well as his grievances against the Biden administration and the other directions he believes are looking ahead.
About election time in the United States, which is soon the 5th of November, both leading candidates, including the incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, took opposite stances on the future of digital assets and blockchain technology. For his part, however, while speaking at the Rieger Rechts2022 conference, SFOX co-founder Garlinghouse highlighted the fact that the future of the industry will be a great change regardless of whoever wins. He made it all the more an emotional appeal by wearing a purple tie symbolizing bipartisanship.
Criticizing the Biden Administration’s Approach to Crypto
Garlinghouse was very vocal regarding his disappointment with the policies of the current regime when it comes to cryptocurrencies. In that regard, he said that the Biden administration was “hostile” toward the industry of digital assets and lamented that there is a lack of clear regulatory frameworks, which he perceives as an increased crackdown on the space.I think no matter what happens, we’re going to see a reset, said Garlinghouse to CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel. We’re going to see forward progress, and I am certainly looking forward to that. His optimism hinges on the assumption that once the dust settles from the election, there will be an opening to reassess, possibly reframing how the US deals with digital currencies.
The Presidential Candidates and Crypto
The candidates have diverse opinions on crypto as presidential candidates, but the approaches vary widely. Vice President Kamala Harris recently said that her administration will be forward-looking regarding policies to implement emerging technologies like AI and digital assets. Harris has lately expressed that access to banking and financial services needs expansion through technological innovation. She has, however, remained relatively quiet about cryptocurrency compared to most other tech-related subjects.
“Kamala Harris is from Silicon Valley. She generally has been pro-technology over the years,” Garlinghouse said, although while her public comments on the sector have been relatively few and far between, he believes she is likely to be more friendly toward the crypto space. However, former President Donald Trump says he is the biggest crypto supporter and has called himself a “crypto president.” Trump has vowed to terminate the so-called “unlawful and un-American crackdown” on America’s crypto industry.
And he’s been a vocal advocate for another crypto project, World Liberty Financial – something that doesn’t exactly hurt his pro-crypto credentials in the eyes of many in the space. “Obviously, Trump came out early and very aggressively in pro-crypto and said he’s the crypto president,” Garlinghouse pointed out during his appearance at Fintech Week, telling how much more cautious the Biden administration had been.
Ripple’s Political Contributions and Industry Influence
With digital assets increasingly being the point of the issue in U.S. politics, several firms within the crypto sector have taken it upon themselves to finance candidates they think would be friendly to the growth of the sector. Ripple has been very active in this regard. At the start of the year, the company announced a $25 million donation to the political action committee (PAC) Fairshake, an organization that campaigns for crypto-friendly policies. This puts Ripple in the ranks of influential crypto firms, such as Coinbase and Andreessen Horowitz, working towards ensuring the voice of the industry is heard in Washington.
Chris Larsen, one of the co-founders of Ripple, donated $1 million in cryptocurrency to a PAC supporting Kamala Harris. Again, this demonstrates a very high degree of strategic alignment with certain Democratic candidates. Harris hasn’t really shown much more openness to crypto than Trump has unopenedness, but having spent time in Silicon Valley and being otherwise pro-technology, she could be an appealing candidate for tech companies interested in a clearer view of regulations going forward.
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