Trump will 'make crypto great again' in US, Ripple CEO says

welcome back Bitcoin has been on fire take a look at Bitcoin this morning at 93761 the cryptocurrency touching a new all-time high of about $94,000 yesterday as the Trump rally continues Trump media and Technology Group also reportedly in advance talks to acquire crypto exchange backed backed says it does not comment on quote Market rumors or speculation the acquisition would Mark Trump's latest move into the world of crypto after promising to explore crypto-friendly policies on the campaign Trail joining me now is the CEO of Ripple Brad garlinghouse Brad great to see you very good to see

you thanks thanks so much for being here tell us how Ripple fits in this whole crypto framework that we're actually understanding better and better recently so from the earliest days Ripple has been focused on solving the problem around crossb payments it's slow it's expensive and we use a digital asset called xrp to help speed that up make it very inexpensive and very reliable but the the challenge as you know well is the US has had this very hostile the Biden Administration has been waging a war on crypto and I think an unlawful War courts have

agreed with us on that and we're finally seeing that kind of unlocked and a a trump embraced crypto and crypto embraced Trump and I think we're seeing that reflect in kind of how the markets have reacted since the election so for ripple do you think that this also unlocks new Revenue opportunities for you in the US because I know the L the customer base largely outside the US you're exactly right you know the the United States SEC filed a law suit about what is xrp four years ago and so it kind of froze the US

market opportunity for us you know if you're a US Bank or us financial institution you're like let's just wait and see how this plays out so 95% of our customers are outside the United States and finally I think we're at a point where we can actually see growth and see the crypto industry Thrive here in the United States the largest economy in the world has really been leaning out of the crypto economy and giving it up to China there's no question like it's growing in the UK it's growing in Japan it's growing in Switzerland I

these are Big economies that are leaning you know the US really has been the the outlier in many ways yeah it's a great point so talk to us about your outlook for crypto under the Trump Administration and this deregulation that Trump is is underway uh thinking about and talking about look he's been putting together a cabinet we still don't have his idea on a Securities and Exchange Commission head uh cftc head all of these agencies want a piece of you want a piece of the crypto industry they all want to have some kind of a

regulatory you know role here do you think you get more clarity under the Trump Administration on who's running things yes we want them to have a role and as you know well one of the biggest problems the crypto industry has had isn't the idea there's too much regulation it's just the regulation is not even clear we're trying to apply laws from literally 1946 a famous Supreme Court case called the Howie test to we're trying to apply that to a digital asset industry that's been developed in the last 10 10 15 20 years and so it

it just doesn't fit and I think as we bring this this new you kind of really the Trump cabinet to Bear getting those clear rules which we've been asking for for you know under the Biden Administration for years I think we're finally going to get that Clarity which will help the US lead again and I think you know Trump talks about making America great again I think he's going to make crypto great again in the United States he certainly talks about it a lot and and wants uh more in terms of the US role in

that Trump reportedly meeting privately with the CEO of coinbase Brian Armstrong on Monday to discuss key appointments for the second Trump Administration so Fox businesses Edward Lawrence spoke to coinbase Chief policy officer about that meeting watch this we're gratified by the degree that they've um the Trump team has had an open door with us and given us an opportunity to talk about our vision about crypto and and to see them ultimately adopt much of that we're very excited to do our part to fulfill the president's vision of making the US a crypto and digital asset

leader of the world there's a lot of work to be done there was a lot of damage done over the last four years that all of us in the industry and and working with our you know policy makers can uh can kind of get going on to restore Us's position as a global leader well I'll tell you I think it would it would speak volumes if Trump put in a crypto expert in the SEC that would be unbelievable or cftc where does coinbase fit into all of this I mean coinbase has been a really important

voice in this I think you know three key players came together during this election cycle coinbase Ripple and andron Horwitz came together to really make sure that crypto is front foot on the agenda and I I think we will get someone at the SEC who is very familiar with crypto I you know there's a couple names still in the mix that I think are very strong candidates and the nice thing is these are people who don't go in with a we're going to attack this industry and it really did turn out to be at a

minimum unethical and a maximum unlawful uh and again federal courts are saying that not just Brad Garling house right and and and Trump has talked about the stablecoin industry uh as well you're about to launch a stable coin is that right we are indeed uh Ripple announced not too long ago we're announcing what something called RL USD or Ripple USD the stable coin market now is 170 about10 billion and the largest player is called tether uh we think there's an opportunity for the Ripple of the world we institutional use case selling into Banks solving that

cross border and really making payments cheaper faster we think this is a perfect use case of these Technologies I can understand because slowly but surely you're seeing Financial Services get it and start implementing uh crypto stable coins in in their businesses uh Trump of course has vowed to fire SEC chairman Gary Gensler on one he said day one and Gensler has recently signaled that he may soon resign after president's elects uh Trump's massive election win here's a look at some of the rumored contenders Trump is considering for the chairman of the SEC uh Brad and

I want to get your take on what's the most important thing that that person should do in the early days of this new role at the SEC should one of these folks get them I think working with Congress and identifying here is the gaps in the existing laws that that create the confusion uh I think you know I don't know all those candidates personally but there's a bunch of very strong candidates up there that I think are aren't going to pretend that hey the rules are clear Gary gendler would testify in of Congress and literally

say the rules are clear but in the next sentence he wouldn't answer the question is Etha security so to me it's just this you know head in the sand it's such a it's a new dawn for crypto in the United States and I think we really can make this the the heartbeat of the crypto and blockchain Industry in the next five or 10 years for for so many people they feel like the people who are writing these rules writing the framework for crypto actually don't understand it I mean do you think Gary Gensler actually understands

the C crypto business you know one of the most frustrating things about Gary gendler he actually taught classes at MIT about crypto and if you watch the videos of him teaching these classes and then you listen to him after he became the chair of the SEC under Elizabeth Warren's kind of guid oh I see where you're going it was a night and day difference and so so he is smart he understands but he's political extremely and hypocritical you know look I literally the the federal courts were calling the SEC under his leadership these are z

quotes arbitrary and capricious failing to follow a faithful allegiance to the law wow they were even sanctioned in one case in Utah that the SEC was sanctioned by a federal judge this is not what we want from our government institutions to work for the people and to actually protect investors all right we will leave it there Brad great to see you great to see you thanks so much great insights from you Brad garlinghouse CEO of Ripple stay with us we'll be right back