Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently spoke about how global regulations can foster institutional adoption as well as the company’s impact on SWIFT payments.
Ripple’s blockchain-based payment technology is grabbing the attention of more and more financial institutions all around the world. Banks in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are using its technology and Live Bitcoin News just recently reported on a cross-border payment system with Japan and Brazil being implemented through Ripple.
Global Regulations are Needed
So, what’s next for Ripple? According to Bloomberg, its CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, discussed this on the sidelines at the recent Singapore Fintech Festive. When questioned about whether or not regulation was hindering institutional investor adoption, Garlinghouse responded:
You need a global framework and you’re seeing some countries really lean in and be progressive and provide that clarity. Here in Singapore, the MAS [Money Authority of Singapore] has been truly a leader. That’s also true in Thailand and, even to some degree, in the Philippines and Japan. Other markets have been slower. Even in the United States, there’s some lack of clarity, particularly around the SEC and some things that they’ve announced around ICOs but there’s still work to be done on that. But I think until that clarity is there, it’s hard for companies to invest in a big way.
Garlinghouse also discussed how he believed that 2018 would be the year of this adoption but as we near closer to the end of this year, that doesn’t seem to be the case partly because of unclear regulations.
Ripple SWIFTly Taking Over Cross-border Payments
Ripple’s CEO was also asked to give his view on any potential partnership with the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). Just last week, Live Bitcoin News reported that SWIFT has denied any future collaboration but this did not seem to concern Garlinghouse. He said:
The technologies that banks use today that SWIFT developed decades ago really hasn’t evolved or kept up with the market… SWIFT said not that long ago they didn’t see blockchain as a solution to correspondent banking. We’ve got well over 100 of their customers saying they disagree.
While a partnership may not be in the cards just yet, it appears that Ripple is doing just fine. When questioned on whether or not the platform could take over SWIFT in the future, Garlinghouse responded:
Well, I think what we’re doing and executing on a day-by-day basis is, in fact, taking over SWIFT… Some of the largest SWIFT-enabled banks are now using Ripple technology.
As a real-world example, Garlinghouse referred to a remittance company that, by using his platform’s technology, managed to cut down its cross-border payment fees from $20 to $2. This, in turn, resulted in that institution seeing an “800% increase in usage overnight”.
Ripple’s CEO concluded that one of the goals of the company is to help banks succeed through the use of their technology. Whether or not SWIFT will be part of that remains to be seen.
Do you think that we’ll see a SWIFT-Ripple collaboration in the future? Do you think that Ripple is already taking over SWIFT? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Shutterstock