Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple – an American payment network and a protocol company – spoke with Cointelegraph at the Blockchain Connect conference in San Francisco earlier this year on the problems that Ripple can solve in the global market, and the approach of government regulation and traditional finance.

Garlinghouse, a graduate of Harvard Business School, previously worked at various positions at Yahoo! Senior Vice President and AOL, where he was President of Consumer Applications. Garlinghouse has also served on the Board of Ancestry.com, Tonic Health, and Animoto.

Ripple, whose native currency is XRP, is associated with more than 100 companies and financial institutions to send money around the world through Blockchain.

Ripple's Recent Rise

Ripple's price began to rise in mid-December 2017, reaching almost $ 4 on January 4, according to CoinMarketCap data. The rise in Ripple in December can be attributed in part to their multiple partnerships with traditional financial companies, as mentioned above.

In addition, the South Korean cryptographic market played an important role. , the first altcoin to reach such numbers.

When CoinMarketCap withdrew its major South Korean trades from its listings in early January 2018, XRP saw its market capitalization drop by more than $ 20 billion.

<img alt=" Ripple Charts "src =" https://cointelegraph.com/storage/uploads/view/56781eaccf6aad8b308cf80812024f18.png "title =" Ripple Charts "/>

From the Beginning From 2018, Ripple announced several On February 7, Ripple announced a new partnership with China-based payment service provider, Lian-Lian, and a week later, Ripple released a new relationship with the company. Saudi Monetary Authority to Establish New Partnerships Many Cross-Border Payments Programs to Banks

On February 14, Western Union confirmed that it was beginning to test the Blockchain-based settlement system. Ripple for transactions.

With a market capitalization of $ 37 bln, Ripple is currently the second largest altcoin on CoinMarketCap, trading at just under $ 1 on average, down 4 , 67% on the day

CT: Given the sharp rise of Ripple in January, its subsequent fall, and the stream of partnership announcements, what are the factors that you believe are most influential in the meteoric rise of Ripple in recent months?

BRAD: The first thing I'm going to say is that I think it's very difficult to know exactly what motivates a market in particular. I think at Ripple we have continually tried to solve a real problem for real customers. I think there is obviously a lot of exaggeration in the Blockchain space and I think that ultimately, in the long run, the value of any digital asset will be determined by its utility.

If you do not solve a real problem for real customers, you will not stimulate the velocity and activity in this digital asset.

What you have seen over and over again, when I say over and over again I'm talking about all the markets, not just crypto and blockchain, [is the idea of solving a real problem]. If you are able to solve a real problem for real customers [then you’re valued]. Especially if it's a very, very big problem.

For Ripple, this global liquidity problem is measured in trillions of dollars, I think people realize that Ripple is gaining ground, we are gaining commitment, we are gaining more customers.

There are many scientific experiments in the Blockchain area. I think we are always at this starting line of the Blockchain space, as a whole. But We [Ripple] are the only ones to have really crossed the starting line. There is a marathon ahead, and I think we still have a long way to go. But it is clear that Ripple has passed the starting line. And I think there are a lot of people who are still trying to understand their product market.

Ripple In The US Regulatory Landscape

2017 has been a great year for global regulation – ranging from crypto bans in China to cryptographic regulation in Japan – but the United States is not the only country in the world. have not yet found a solid regulatory framework for crypto-currencies, Blockchain technologies and ICOs in particular.

Last December, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen reiterated the Fed's 2014 position that it has no authority to regulate cryptocurrencies, explaining that the Fed does not differentiate between cryptocurrencies.

After the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States (SEC) issued a number of warnings to investors about the "risks" of coin initiations (ICO) in 2017, the SEC and the United States The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) held a joint cryptocurrency hearing on February 6. At the hearing, regulators decided to work together to provide "smart" regulation for cryptocurrencies, encourage Blockchain development, and be more attentive to Initial Coin Offerings (ICO), to ensure that they comply with US securities law.

Recently, on February 16, the SEC suspended the trading of three companies related to crypto for investor protection purposes. On February 28, the media reported that the SEC had initiated a survey of 80 companies related to cryptocurrency, including Overstock.com and a crypto fund created by the founder of TechCrunch

In February 2018, The US states Arizona, Wyoming, and Georgia have all introduced cryptographic projects focused on taxation and securities law.

CT: As Ripple is based in the United States, what is your approach to regulation domestically and internationally?

BRAD: Two Thoughts

One thing that interests me about Ripple is that in some way people viewed Ripple as the contrarian. From the beginning, we are really looking at how we work with governments, how we work with banks. And I think that some in the crypto community were very, "How can we destroy the government.How can we bypass the banks?"

I think it differentiated us and I think that ultimately governments will not go away. In my life, I do not think that happens.

I am proud to call the Bank of England a paying Ripple & # 39; s customer. We absolutely believe that there should be a thoughtful regulation in crypto, in Blockchain.

When we engage with customers, we do not change the existing regulatory framework, meaning if, for example, the Bank of X has an account, having to KYC – know your customer – you must do the checking KYC. If X's bank uses Ripple's technology, you still do your KYC check, you still do your AML check [anti-money laundering] you still need OFAC compliance, etc.

When we talk to regulators, we explain that what Ripple does does not circumvent their regulatory frameworks, and they become very comfortable very quickly, "Oh! I've Okay, we get it.If it's a better product at a low price, we're happy about that. "

CT: Thank you very much, we l & rsquo; We really appreciate it.

This interview was conducted in collaboration with Olivia Capozzalo, editor-in-chief of Cointelegraph.