US cryptocurrency company Ripple joins the Irish crypto club

The company is recruiting a country manager for Ireland that will be responsible for “liaising with regulators, key customers and partners, and drive Europe-wide strategic initiatives” and will report to its managing director for Europe.

According to the job listing, the new base will lead the launch of its business operations in Ireland.

Ripple’s Dublin office is expected to include functions like engineering, product management, business development and marketing.

It will be Ripple’s first EU office but it already has a European presence with bases in London and Reykjavik.

Ripple declined to comment on the new office.

Ripple recently signed a partnership with British fintech company Modulr, which is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland, to expand services in the EU and UK.

The company joins a slew of other major cryptocurrency and blockchain companies that are building European outposts in Dublin to expand their presence in the European market.

This includes cryptocurrency exchanges like Bitpanda, Kraken and Gemini, led by the Winklevoss twins, which are in the early stages of building out their local teams, and giants like Coinbase, which has established a large base in the capital, and ConsenSys, which opened an office in 2018.

Ripple is currently embroiled in a legal battle Stateside with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the legal status of its XRP cryptocurrency, which is currently valued at around 60c with a market cap of around €27.5bn.

XRP has long been subject of debates over whether it is a currency or a security. The SEC argues the latter and sued Ripple in 2020, claiming XRP should be subject to strict securities laws, which would restrict how it can be used and traded. The case is ongoing.

Ripple is headquartered in San Francisco and has raised nearly $300m ($268m) from investors, including Japan’s SBI Group.