Key Crypto Players Drop Their Two Cents On Biden’s Executive Order

Key Takeaways 

• Ripple CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, applauds the recently signed Biden executive order on crypto
• Garlinghouse expects that the SEC will be set straight following regulatory clarity that the order will bring.  

Positive reactions have largely followed the White House signing of a crypto Executive Order. Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, has been one of the crypto key opinion leaders who have praised the Biden administration move. 

Ripple supports the crypto executive order, says Brad Garlinghouse. 

In a Twitter thread, the Ripple chief executive stated that he was “pleasantly surprised and inspired” by the executive order. While he had expected the EO to only acknowledge crypto, the administration went ahead to detail specific steps it wanted to take for crypto regulation, he noted. 

To Garlinghouse, the development could mark a significant turning point for the crypto industry. For one, the EO is an affirmation that crypto will continue to exist into the foreseeable future, he intoned. 

Similarly, Garlinghouse asserted that the regulatory clarity the move will result in is what is needed for the US to maintain its status as a leader in technology. 

“The White House finally says what we and the industry have been saying for years – if the US wants to maintain its status as a responsible tech leader, it needs to provide a clear regulatory framework,” he remarked. 

Garlinghouse also used the opportunity to pick a bone with the SEC. He opined that with regulatory clarity, years of damage done by the US’s apex securities regulator to the crypto industry could be undone. Hence, he surmised that Ripple stood in support of the move. 

Garlinghouse’s take has been echoed by other Ripple executives as well. The General manager of RippleNet institutional-grade payments network RippleNet, Asheesh Birla, noted that the EO amounts to the US government putting “a stake in the ground on crypto.” 

Similarly, other market participants have hailed the move as highly bullish for crypto. Tyler Winklevoss, a co-founder of Gemini crypto exchange, called it a watershed moment. He however urged that as a step forward, the government should work with industry players who have been pushing for clearer regulations for the industry. 

What does the EO have planned for crypto?

The executive order sets out several objectives for the US government to achieve as concerns crypto. These include consumer protection, protection of the United States and global financial stability, and mitigating illicit use of digital assets. It equally seeks to re-enforce the US’s leadership in “the global financial system and in technological and economic competitiveness,” among others. 

As was speculated, the order charges several government agencies to study how these objectives can be met in the crypto market.