February 28th 2023, Ripple SVP and MD Brooks Entwistle was invited on to an interview with Forkast News where he confirms that Ripple is talking with many Central Banks all around the world, to be more specific he adds on that it is much more than twenty.
“We [Ripple] are in dialog with not 10, not 20, but a bunch more Central Banks around the world. We’ve announced projects with Bhutan, with Palau and others to come…”
This was just one of the many quotes from the interview, here is the full transcript and interview below.
well today we
Regulators in the U.S are cracking down on crypto an industry that is no stranger to strict enforcement actions the security is an Exchange Commission escalated its campaign against unregistered Securities so how will it impact Ripple and its ongoing lawsuit with the SEC when you wake up every day and you’re worried about you know whether or not the regulation is going to go against you it does make it very difficult to build companies and to build teams not just for ripple for the industry and do strict regulations help combat fraud and scams or encourage companies to move to friendlier jurisdictions instead coming up on word on the Block Brooks and Ripple Senior vice president and managing director of APAC and Mena for ripple joins us to dive deep into those topics and a whole lot more.
it all started back in December 2020 when the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission sued Ripple labs for an alleged 1.3 billion dollar unregistered Securities offering since then the SEC took action against the file sharing and payment network library contending that it had sold LBC tokens as an unregistered security Library just lost the case but the judge said that his order does not apply to secondary market sales of tokens does that mean that tokens sold on crypto exchanges will not be defined as Securities could this affect Ripple’s lawsuit is a court decision finally imminent whatever it is it all boils down to that one question are cryptocurrency securities.
welcome to word on the Block the series that takes a deeper dive into blockchain and all the emerging technologies that shape our world at the intersection of business politics and economy it’s what we cover right here on forecast I’m forecast Editor in Chief Angie Lau well today we are in conversation with Brooks and whistle senior vice president of customer success and managing direct or of APAC and Mena for ripple Brooks welcome to the show uh we just got to hang out a little bit together in Davos where the world’s convened to talk about some of the biggest issues uh in the world today and and certainly on the Promenade there in Davos and Switzerland there was still a lot of talk about crypto and digital assets the industry wants transparency and Regulatory Clarity but but where are we heading with the SEC versus what seems like the entire crypto industry we we heard uh you know a lot of talk since uh FTX collapsed especially from the SEC and especially from U.S regulators and policy makers but where do you think this is headed who we agree I mean in the interaction and you know time spent with Regulators is invaluable and in most parts of the role we can do that unfettered and Regulators welcome that interaction uh here in Singapore up in Tokyo in Switzerland in the UK we’re part of that dialogue you are on panels you’re in rooms with The Regulators talking about what we’re seeing what we’re learning and it’s a two-way process that’s clearly not the case in the U.S right now as it relates to our ability to be part of that process and I think that does impact the U.S long term for sure on the Innovation front but we again back to the Davao situation that is a place where you can actually have some of these discussions and have them in a way that are constructive and it’s really on us as an industry to prove utility and why crypto matters why blockchain matters and what can do for countries for Citizens for businesses for big world problems if we can prove that case um and and make that case in a strong way The Regulators will follow and can come along but if we’re viewed as as an industry that’s not listening and not being a part of this then we’re in trouble on that front.
so I do think that this piece of it in 2023 can we continue dialogues and where are markets that we have a receptive audience on that front will be very important one thing that I thought was so interesting I was that the jurisdictions and countries themselves and the policy makers themselves are also you know working within the framework of their own governments working with the technology so you talk about Enterprise use cases and utility you know I was sitting on a panel with some central banks uh talking about cbdc’s and it is very clear that there is there is uh research and and interest and also development in using blockchain as the underlying technology to build a lot of these you know utility cases as as you know you say that the industry needs to prove so in fact some of the industry players themselves are the governments and the countries themselves I thought that was super interesting I think it’s a great point and cbdc’s we do believe are one of the most important and certainly strongest cases for utility going around and one of the things that’s important to note and you saw this on some of the panels that you led and in the discussion around Davos uh no two situations no two central banks no two countries are the same this is a you know there are 200 countries out there plus uh there are a lot of central banks
and they have different needs and there are different parts of this journey so our view is where can we become that conversation be a Solutions provider and help them along that Journey there are certain countries that are far down the road on the digital yawn China others but there are many emerging countries uh that are maybe smaller that may have fewer resources that may have different issues they’re solving for where Ripple and others like us can come in and be part of that dialogue and so we’re in dialogue with you know not 10 not 20 but a bunch more you know central banks around the world on these discussions we’ve been now ounce projects with Bhutan with Palau and others to come and I think that just shows you that this really resonates now one size does not fit all but we need to be in this as this develops because you’re right about the big Point here is there is no question that digital currencies are going to be a part of the landscape going forward and every country has to have an answer for their own constituents their own governments as to what it will do and how it will impact and most importantly we think in the positive case how it can really Drive economic growth and financial inclusion but there there’s certainly a regulatory Divergence here uh you know you talk about other countries in the world in other regions in the world
and then you take a look at what’s happening in the U.S first it was Ripple then Library Now kraken the us-based crypto exchange was slapped 30 million dollar fine for failing to register its staking programs some say a broad ban on crypto staking for U.S retailers may be on the Horizon it’s a lot of conjecture right now a lot of a lot of fud if you will and if that wasn’t enough the SEC may be going after stable coins we saw that action against paxos how do lawsuits uh impact growth and innovation in the crypto industry in the U.S specifically what’s your view especially from you know the the zero foot view you know face to face and then from a more global view which you’re also participating uh we are building quickly and Innovation is happening outside the U.S uh we as a company added 300 people last year uh some majority of them in the international markets um the bulk of our business is outside the U.S right now the take-up of some of our most Innovative products is outside the U.S so the only thing I’ve learned to do over this time of building businesses when there is headwinds in a certain Market is to make sure your teams are focused you’re getting the best people into the company and you’re building where you can and for us that means building outside the U.S and doing it quickly and not every jurisdiction is perfect they’re not all the same but wehave to create a company a footprint that enables us to build enables ourcustomers and partners to come on board with us and deliver something that as we talk about earlier in this conversation is actually differentiated so that agovernment or regulator looks at us and says you know what that is a solution that we want to welcome onto our choresand it will be better off for that’s what we’re after you know everybody’s watching this Ripple versus SEC uh case it’s going to be a landmark case it will not only haveimpact on Ripple and xrp users but the entire industry at Large
how soon can we get a decision whatwhat’s what’s the lay of the Land There what what are the implications you think that the lawsuit for the crypto industryuh as a whole um will will have when we get theresults of that case well you’re absolutely correct that this is not just about Ripple it’s about the entire industryum and it’s about innovation in the United States and we can’t predict timing we have done all we can on ourside we’ve made our best case it is now with the judge and we would hope andexpect that in the first half of 2023 there would be some resolution but againyou know timing wise is something that’s completely Beyond us and it’s actually a really important point and segue to kindof how do you deal with a company during this time and I mentioned the focus on building our employees get up every dayand while they do read these news articles and watch broadcasts like this if they are certainly outside the U.Sthey get up every day ready to build because they can build when you wake up every day and you’re worried about youknow whether or not the regulation is going to go against you it does make it very difficult uh to build companies andto build teams not just for ripple for the industry and so and that’s been Trueby the way that was true in the gig economy and in Web 2.0
where it was aheavily regulatory environment and I was a participant in that in my previous role and so we’ve been through thisbefore but I only know one thing to do which is to get our people waking up excited about Innovation excited aboutmaking a difference and we’re coming to you and we’re you and I are both talking in Asia I mean we’re in the land ofinnovation here on fintech and we’re the land of innovation on blockchain and the use of crypto and so that is a great wayto to wake up and not to wake up and think first about regulation coming down on youbut it’s got to have impacted business thinking I you know it’s taken asignificant chunk not only on capital for sure but energy you know how how doyou then take the whatever you’ve learned over the course of this legal action in this legal battle with the SEChow do you view as you expand into other regions what steps does Ripple now taketo ensure Regulatory Compliance in new jurisdictions um you know are there new things thatyou you’ve now adopted as a result of okay let’s just make sure that everybody understands why we’re in the spacehas it changed the way that you conduct you know Communications and Outreach with Partners how how has it shiftedthinking absolutely that is a really important point
you have to go on offense on the policy and Regulatoryfront in offense in a really constructive way and so that interaction being live real time uh with Regulatorsis really important we’ve built out our policy team we have an outstanding policy person in the region here with uson the ground as part of a global team so we have to be again offensive and that means to your point on it’s notjust issuing white papers or responding to things very kind of you know quietlyin the background we need to be hosting events uh having our customer conferences being on standby for whensomeone does call and says listen we could use an explanation about cbdc’s or the like and sowith that and you also brought up kind of how do the how do you think about management from a business standpoint well in addition to building policyteams building your teams on the ground being open to these dialogues you also have to be very focused as to what yougo after and one of the big impacts on this environment as to how you think about 2023 as capital does dry up ascompanies do struggle is you’ve only got the ability to go after a couple of things that really matter this is not atime to chase bright shiny things all over the world uh in the hope that some of them play out and that really isimportant as well what do you do well what’s your core business where can you add value make a difference and some ofthis stuff may have to wait it’s time to be boring and I fully Embrace that we’re going to take a quickbreak but when we return we’re going to talk about why 2022 despite being a bad year wasmaybe a good year for ripple when we come back according to research Asia is ahead incrypto adoption and blockchain innovation but can the region be a world leader indigital asset regulations when word on the Block returns [Music]if you don’t understand the future you’ll never see your place in it introducing forecast plus covering allthings blockchain independent reporting insights and access from Asia to theworld and you cut through the noise where technology insights and access meet where smart conversations happenmake friends with disruption forecast Pluswelcome back we are in conversation with Brooks and whistle of a ripple Labs
according to Henry Kissinger I thinkwe’ve we’ve used this before who controls money controls the world how doyou think it’s going to play out in a decentralized world where money is taking different forms and technology isopening up access and control how will the this shape the world in a way wherewe see more inclusion and more opportunities to engage in a global digital economy and and what do youthink those pain points are when when it comes to all of this and you know thepolicy makers are paying very close attention here they are indeed and it’s there’s goodreason because just go to the number of unbanked people in in the region that I’m sitting in right now in SoutheastAsia the number itself is actually 290 million larger than the population ofIndonesia itself that still have not absolutely been able to participate in this exciting economy that gets theheadlines about Venture Capital money being put to war public companies going public all the exciting things that welive and breathe and kind of keep us motivated when it really comes down to it how does it impact that personrunning a small kiosk in an outer Village in a Southeast Asian country and how are they participating in thisgrowth potential in this region that we very much believe in and that’s true in Southeast Asia it’s true in South Asiayou know we think about the opportunity for us not in small sub-regions it’s a global opportunity and even out ofSingapore we think about a mega region that includes the middle east and south Asia and Southeast Asia but if you’re apolicy maker and you have the you’re looking after a group the constituentsthat may or may not be responsible for putting you in office you need to take care of that constituency in every wayyou can and that means economic growth and it means the opportunity
for theirchildren to go to school to get an education for their business to be successful whatever the case is and sowe are a mission-driven industry and I think if you go back to what we’re all trying to do in this fintech Revolutionand you can as you have you’ll talk to so many Founders and Executives in thisindustry in this part of the world they really relish this ability to say you know what we are making a difference forthat worker in a Saudi oil field who’s trying to get Capital back to thatfamily in the Philippines and do it faster cheaper more reliably and if they can do it they don’t care but if theycan do it an environmentally sound way that is not kind of blowing up the world on the energy front it is actually agreat opportunity and one that is huge that’s just on the remittance use case think about the small business use caseof these Underground bank smes that need the ability to move Capital to move value between offices between countriesif they’re in multiple countries and so there’s a lot of room to run but we have to continue to be Mission driven on thatfront because when you are it keeps you honest with policy makers and back to your Henry Kissinger example making surethat the states themselves have a reason to support you and have you in the gamethere’s a lot of competition though there’s uh you know increasingly we’re seeing other firms announce uh uh youknow cross-border transaction platforms and protocols that that allow thesetransactions in the same way
that Ripple has uh with central banks and with withdifferent jurisdictions how are you addressing how are you addressing perhaps a increasingly crowded spaceyou know competition is is good for all of us you’re correct that people are chasing this they should because webelieve and we’ve said this in the beginning at Ripple the movement of value across borders is one of the last unsolved big financial problems orconundrums in the world so the more people chasing and innovating around this probably the better for these sameconstituents that we were talking about earlier in our conversation now as it relates to what we’re doing at Ripple weactually believe that this is part of it it looks and it takes longer than it than it looks and that means you’ve gotto build a Global Network which we have with ripple net which is now in 70 pluscountries with Partners on the network that are world-class partners that we’vespent a long time vetting making sure from a kyc and AML standpoint they areworld class before they even participate in the network you can’t go put together a 70 Country Network uh with hundreds ofparticipants on it overnight and so yes there are lots of great Innovations across single corridors or withincertain regions and that’s going to continue to happen we we offer a holistic Global solution which is usingkind of latest technology from a blockchain and messaging standpoint and
now increasing the use of digital assetsas the bridge currency between countries and so we just need to keep running hard and keep adding great people and youknow in an industry where not everybody is going to survive or make it given some of these Capital constraints wefirmly believe that we’re one of those that survive um are successful and a leader in whatwe’re trying to do but it has not happened overnight we’re a 10 year old company well you have some veryinteresting Partners here the bank of England mentioned Ripple in its cbdc consultation paper I believe it’s theCentral Bank of Uruguay declared Ripple is their money transfer company you find an mou as you said with the kingdom ofBhutan how how do you think 2022 is going to shape up what we’regoing to see from you from these central banks in 2023. what is everyone workingtowards we have to make sure that through all this noise that we’re focused on where the opportunities areand I do think we did a great job of keeping our nose to the growth grindstone and build grindstone in 2022.what that resulted in was a lot of these conversations that are happening and you mentioned around the world it is aninteresting collection back to my point these are not all in the same Regions they’re not all the same size they’reall the same you know place on the curve but I think you’ll see more of those emerge as people get an understandingthe technology of what we offer and and more mous are signed and maybe moreFocus From the industry ongoing after this so we’re we’re encouraged for 2023we know that we’ve got a growth smarts you know we’re not going to add another 300 people this year because we’reconsolidating that effort them we’re certainly still hiring and selective you know areas where we people can haveimpact right away so there’s lots of lessons to be learned especially in our region there was a fair number oflessons to be learned a lot of this action took place in Asia in some of these markets uh and not always for thegood on some of these uh these failures in regulatory dust UPS yeah I mean let’s write 3acFTX one could
argue uh came came from Hong Kong rightum so many of these Fallen chess pieces as it were but in the grand scheme ofthe board I do want to talk more about Asia as you’ve brought up you’re in Singapore it’s a very important digitalassets Hub in Asia most of your career has been in Asia and ripple is obviouslyuh rapidly expanding outside the U.S and and Asia Pacific is in particular one ofthe biggest contributors to uh you know what we’re seeing in terms of growthit is indeed it’s it’s really interesting and you know I have loved a career out here of building businessesin this part of the world has been a true privilege and a blessing and whether or not that was as an investment banker or in the right hailing businessand now in the crypto and blockchain business uh this is a great part of the world to build it not without itschallenges that we talked about um but that um you know that to me is is really where where the opportunity hashas arisen over time and so I think one of the things that we’ve really focused on at Ripple and thinking about thisupcoming year is making sure that all these lessons there are plenty of people on our team that have been around andbuilt businesses in financial institutions they’ve been Innovative fintechs how do we put all these resources together and keep going at itbecause she your to your deep point there Asia Pacific is our biggest Market and that is not true for every SiliconValley based technology company it’s highly unusual actually and when youwrap in the mega region that’s run out of Singapore which includes Dubai in the middle east and south Asia our jointventure in Japan and of course ANZ when you put all that together it’s well over the majority of our business volume onthe network and uptake of our product on-demand liquidity and so that actually is really encouraging it keeps ourpeople motivated um and I’m a big believer in Singapore as a jurisdiction you know as a placesometimes things don’t move as quickly on the regulatory front but you know it’s thorough and you know when it comesout it’s right and done right and yes there’s been plenty of black guys in the region maybe we should have expectedthat because a lot of the early movers and biggest movers were coming out of this region and statistically that wasbound to happen but the rest of the world has had them as well that’s not an Asia phenomenonway for digital transformation of money I do I think there are a few places andI’ve had this discussion with with regulators and with government officials and and certainly have have been on the record with this for a long time inSingapore right back to the point I sat on a capital markets committee uh at the Mas uh 10 years ago when I first camehere with Goldman Sachs and I really realized that this is this is not about a southeast Asia uh lead that Singaporeis playing for it’s not about an eight-pack lead it should be about a global opportunity and can Singapore bea leader um globally and I think fintech crypto and blockchain is one of those veryunique areas where all this ecosystem come together and and really lead and that pulls all of Asia with it in yourview does Asia have the ability to have more digital transformation policyimpact than the US I think it’s a great opportunity to leave a regulatory standpoint absolutelyI think there is that’s one of the Beauties a regular regulatory impact andRegulatory Innovation or leadership can happen anywhere and that’s where we’ve got to build around that and as wetalked about earlier make sure it interacts uh with Regulators that are willing to to interact with us and helpthat Journey along the way and so um I’m a Believer in in cover and I haveresponsibility for you know each of our regions around the world on the customer front so I’m neutral from thatperspective and there’s lots of great opportunities elsewhere in the world we happen to be connecting today in Asiaand and it does happen to be on the fintech and blockchain and crypto side you know I think the fastest growingmost Innovative place in the world all right let’s take a quick breather books when we return we’re going to talkto Brooks about his outlook for 2023 stay with us2022 was a growth year for ripple as it expanded into new markets2023 hold for a cross-border payments and how does Ripple fit into the visionfor the future more when we come back [Music]thank you welcome back it’s still a veryinteresting year that it has yet to be revealed what what do you think 2023 is going to shape up in you knowfor the industry and certainly your participation in in the vision of thisCollective future now we’re starting to get some signal through the noise and you know you startto kind of lock in and figure out what the first quarter will look like what we can certainly tell you and the way wethink about it is it will almost certainly change over the course of the Year there will be some exogenous shock there’ll be some developments uh good orbad that we’ll have to play through and navigate through and that was the case in 2022 2021 and certainly in 2020 forripple so we’ve got to be nimbled and have our teams ready to adjust uh we areencouraged about you know the the business in multiple parts of the world including Asia our customers continue towant what we’re selling and that’s kind of the ultimate view of a product driven company and we’ve got to continue tomake that product work for everyone and continue to evolve and add Talent around that area and around our engineeringarea so we’ll continue to do what we’re doing we’re going to do the things that we do whether or not that’s our CoreBusiness in Ripple Nets our Network and on-demand liquidity or CBD season we’ve talked aboutum we have a focus around the carbon credit markets uh that has been aproject over time there are a few of these things that we’re going deep on and pushing forward on and there’ll besome things that you know maybe are a little bit less of a priority I mean I think the the nft market we were if wewere on this call a year ago we would have probably spent a lot more time around it we certainly have folks dedicated to this and we have aninnovation lab in our Ripple X and growth area we’ll keep watching that uh but we can’t be all things to all peopleand that’s not a great way to run a business of 800 people it has a global footprint we need to do the main thingsright do you think that Waters finally for 2023 and if I were to ask you to gazeinto your Crystal Ball but do you think those turbulent waters are going to calma little bit or do you think that the contagion impact is stillpotentially rearing its ugly head I think it best calm Waters or secondhalf 2023 and I’m not you can’t you know sail a ship with you know thinking aboutthat you’ve got to prepare for other scenarios um and we’re and we’re doing that buthere’s one metric that I that I kind of think about and and you you do this all the time because you’re leading panelsand talking in these conversations what is the amount of time that conversations start with and spend timeon FTX and the fallouts before you actually get to a business related discussionand we saw that I will tell you we were at a Central Bank in a Southeast Asian country in late November and we were wehad a great dialogue all the prep work had been done we were there with our partnerand we spent the first 30 minutes just answering questions about FTX you know the past is a great referencepoint it gives us context but the future is for us to Define and and thank youthank you for giving us a little insight into what the future holds for rippleand we’ll be waiting uh for that ruling from the SEC and and that lawsuit andand so I I have no doubt we’re going to touch base once again but Brooks that isa wrap and I truly appreciate you hanging out with us today thank you for having me Angie appreciate itand thank you everyone for joining us as well on this latest episode of word on the Block I’m Angie Lau forecasteditor-in-chief until the next time [Music]
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