Ripple’s relationship with global regulators in stark contrast with US SEC
“I would like to say we are friends. Here [in the UK], and many places around the world, we are working very, very closely with central banks and government regulators.”
Ripple remains one of the leading figures in the world of digital assets. While the firm continues to pursue its mission of disrupting cross-border settlement by using its blockchain technology and network, it has to deal with the many regulators across the globe.
The company is happy to say it has cozied up with most, but unfortunately not with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, with whom it has been fighting in the New York federal court that may well define the future of the digital asset industry.
“I would like to say we are friends”
As part of its good relationship with the Bank of England, Ripple was able to partner with UK payments platform Modulr to enable seamless payments into the United Kingdom and Europe.
This will allow businesses to run real-time payments internationally powered by Ripple’s financial technology, RippleNet. Modulr offers a Payments-as-a-Service solution into the European and UK payment rails, with access to critical payment infrastructure in the UK including Faster Payments and Bacs CHAPS, SWIFT, and SEPA in Europe.
Modulr is one of few non-banks to be directly connected to the Bank of England, allowing the payments platform to settle funds at the Central Bank.
It is by establishing and nurturing a daily relationship with agencies and central banks that Ripple is able to build a successful enterprise in such a regulated industry.
“We are looking to solve a very specific problem in the market. In our approach we want to work with the system including ecosystem partners, governments, and regulators”, Sendi Young, the managing director for RippleNet Europe told City A.M. “I would like to say we are friends. Here [in the UK], and many places around the world, we are working very, very closely with central banks and government regulators.”
“We have regular meetings around a variety of topics”, she continued, insisting that Ripple is in a “very good position” with regulators worldwide.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission, on the other hand, has decided to move forward with a complaint against Ripple in December 2020 for an unregistered securities offering for the sale of XRP since 2013.
Although the SEC had successfully won or settled in “similar” litigations such as Telegram and EOS, this time the crypto ecosystem is uniting against the agency as the regulation-by-enforcement practice has failed to provide proper notice of the rules to operate in the United States.
