“Dear Congress, please do not paint us with a broad brush. Many in the blockchain and digital currency industry are responsible actors. We are responsible to U.S. and international law”.
This is the beginning of the open letter to the Congress of the United States of America written by Ripple and signed by CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen.
Ripple’s top management is personally involved in asking Congress to create a body of laws to regulate the industry, but not to the detriment of US blockchain companies that operate responsibly.
It sounds like a heartfelt appeal by Ripple’s top executives, who also write that “without regulatory clarity, we risk pushing the innovation, tax revenue and jobs that these new technologies create overseas”.
An appeal that has a concrete basis, it is enough to think of the recent choice of Circle to migrate the Poloniex exchange to Bermuda, where the regulation is more favourable.
Cryptocurrencies don’t want to replace the dollar
Ripple reassures that, from their point of view, cryptocurrencies are complementary to fiat currencies and the US dollar, not a replacement for them.
Just as there is no question of the role of central banks in “issuing currencies and setting monetary policy“, and the essential function that governments have in creating the necessary trust around them so that a currency can be accepted by citizens.
Moving money abroad in the same way as information is moved
Ripple’s open letter to Congress also seems to call for a real cultural leap when it says:
“Companies like ours in the United States, and others abroad, employ these innovations in partnership with regulated financial institutions to enable the world to move money across borders like it already moves information—efficiently, reliably, inexpensively”.
The opportunity of the United States
“As it did with the internet”, the letter continues, “the U.S. has the chance to lead the way, nurturing this economic opportunity while continuing to protect privacy and stability”.
Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen end the open letter to the Congress with an encouraging conclusion:
“You have the world’s attention. Let’s come together and seize the moment”.
