Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has walked back his intent to leave the U.S. over uncertain crypto regulations, according to a report by CoinDesk.
After the election of President-elect Joe Biden, Garlinghouse has now adopted a wait-and-see approach instead of making a hard decision.
“We haven’t put a strict timeline on when we’ll make a decision” on relocating, he said, CoinDesk reported. “I think I am waiting to see what dynamics change, associated with the Biden administration beginning their term in office, and I am optimistic that will actually improve where things sit for the XRP community broadly.”
Earlier this year, Garlinghouse struck a different tone when he expressed dissatisfaction with the fruitless efforts to get U.S. regulators to see Ripple’s side, which had drained the patience of the company’s executives as they prepared for an initial public offering (IPO) and fought a lawsuit, CoinDesk reported.
The company opened an office in Dubai last month, but Ripple’s threats to move out of the U.S. aren’t concrete yet — and CoinDesk speculated execs could just be “saber-rattling” to get the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to make moves on clearer rules.
PYMNTS reported earlier this year that Ripple Executive Chairman Chris Larsen said the company was potentially looking at moving to Singapore or the U.K. Larsen said the U.S.’s attitude toward crypto had been “hostile” and many other countries were handling the matter better.
“Ripple wants to embrace regulation, and when regulation is clear and consistently applied, it does result in a predictable outcome,” the company’s general counsel, Stu Alderoty, told CoinDesk, adding that this hasn’t been the case in the U.S. so far.
With Biden’s election and the promise of a new SEC chair, the direction the SEC could take on crypto in the future is currently known.
