Ripple Executive Says Legal Stance on Blockchain Being Good and Crypto Being Bad is Evolving

Regulators Stance on Blockchain and Crypto Evolving

Ripple’s Sagar Sarbahi recently stated during an interview on CNBC Markets Today that he believes that policymakers are changing their stance toward blockchain and crypto assets.

According to Sarbhai, regulators are no longer taking a compartmentalized approach isolates distributed ledger technology, such as blockchain, from crypto assets. Sarbhai’s words implies that,

“Regulators historically treated decentralized cryptocurrencies with circumspection or hostility, while remaining more receptive to blockchain’s benefits because it was seen as more beneficial to industries across the board.”

He added:

“A couple of years ago the narrative was blockchain good, crypto bad. But I think that what we’re now seeing is that more and more regulators are taking the whole space in one conjunction [sic]. You cannot have runaways built without airplanes . . . [That narrative is thankfully changing and policymakers are recognizing that there is a strong benefit that digital (crypto) assets bring].”

A few of the benefits he identified include enhancing financial inclusion and removing barriers to commerce. To substantiate his claims, he referred to the recent developments in Thailand, where a more robust regulatory framework for crypto assets is being generated. When it comes to the United States, Sarbhai mentioned that XRP may be classified as a cryptocurrency, especially due to the high-profile lawsuits.

However, Sarbhai also mentioned that XRP’s open-source protocol should be considered as independent from the corporation itself, especially given that Ripple controls only seven percent of the validator nodes operate on the network. He also added that XRP investors do not secure a stake or shareholder-like position when they purchased XRP. Some countries, such as Australia and the Philippines, have classified XRP as a commodity.

He added that Ripple may launch a commercial application of xRapid for banks within the coming months.