Ripple’s Chris Larsen: Unclear US regulations hurt innovation

Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, in a recent interview, highlighted the importance of blockchain and digital assets. While drawing similarities between crypto ecosystem and the Internet’s underlying infrastructure, he stated,

“Those (crypto) currencies are going to be extremely important for reducing liquidity costs and greasing the wheels of other things of value (Dollar, Yen, RMB).”

Furthermore, Larsen believed that existing fiat currencies including Dollar, Yen, and RMB would always maintain their dominant position, although “they need a digital asset to enable that easy translation from one thing of value to another thing of value.” In order to get crypto mainstream, the entrepreneur stressed on the need for “regulatory clarity.” He added,

“That’s the part (regulatory clarity) that unfortunately is missing and in the U.S. market. It’s still too confusing, too inconsistent. There are just too many question marks and that really hurts innovation.”

As a direct result, Larson believed that the investors and innovators resort to moving to other geographical locations. Displaying support towards healthy regulations, he added,

“The best system is going to be one that takes in consideration consumer protection (for the innovators), and also recognize the importance of the job that other regulators (Federal Reserve and Treasury) have.”

On an end note, Larson added that while the US need not have less regulation than Switzerland or Singapore, “they absolutely have to have as much clarity.”