Ripple CEO’s has sat down with Ross Leckow, IMF’s Deputy General Counsel, to talk about blockchain technology at the Singapore Fintech Festival.

Both agreed that the distributed ledger will change the world of global payments as the International Monetary Fund engages with the private sector and industry to help its members unlock the potential of blockchain with minimum risk.

IMF Engaging Private Sector to Help Countries Move Towards Blockchain-Friendly Environments

During the conversation about distributed ledger and the ASEAN market, current Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, told Leckow that the regulatory clarity in the region, namely in Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines, is attractive for the establishment of blockchain businesses.

“In particular, Thailand has introduced a framework that balances consumer protection with innovation. It legalizes several digital assets, including XRP, and provides clear and explicit guidelines for outside blockchain companies to operate. This clear regulatory environment makes it easier to apply blockchain and digital asset technology to solve real-world business use cases, such as improving cross-border payments across the ASEAN region.”

Blockchain also comes as an opportunity for the East Asian region as the market is ripe for adoption of blockchain to lower the costs of cross-border payments, which totaled $130 billion in inbound payments alone in 2017. Ripple is particularly invested in the region, with nearly 50 percent of global customers based there. The broad acceptance of blockchain in ASEAN markets aims to solve issues such as opaque, expensive, and slow cross-border payments, Leckow explained.

“Cross-border remittance is a good example of a use case that is very important here. Regulators here have demonstrated a willingness to engage with each other and others around the world — a type of cross-border cooperation has emerged that involves the right stakeholders and helps develop solutions to solve for problems like this.”

IMF’s fintech-related advisory group, which was founded last year, includes Chris Larsen, executive chairman of Ripple’s board of directors and former CEO and co-founder of Ripple. The IMF official added that the international community is now working together to develop regulation that is proportionate to the risks so that it does not stiffle innovation, but each jurisdiction makes its own decisions.

“Each country has to decide for themselves what type of regulatory framework is best. But generally speaking, they should be cognizant of risk but also the potential to make the global system more efficient, more inclusive with this new technology.”

Ripple’s Garlinghouse ended the talk by explaining that blockchain addresses the issues of value interoperability, including bringing three billion people – almost half of the world population – to the global economy.

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