Chris Larsen attacks U.S. crypto policy and claims that San Francisco has lost its status as the blockchain capital

Chris Larsen, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Ripple Labs, was interviewed by Ed Ludlow, co-host of Bloomberg Technology, a daily tech news program broadcast on Bloomberg TV, on September 6, 2023.

Larsen had harsh words for the way the US governs blockchain and cryptocurrencies. He lamented that the actions of the Biden administration had driven the crypto business overseas. Larsen claims that this has led to places like London, Singapore, and Dubai replacing San Francisco and the United States as global centers for blockchain. Larsen was saddened to hear that San Francisco had fallen from its position as the global epicenter of the blockchain industry.

It was his words: “They eradicated San Francisco as we knew it. We used to own it, but now the Biden administration has chosen to send the business overseas for unknown reasons.”

He said that incompetent decision-making on both the local and national levels was to blame for this setback. In fact, he went as far as to suggest that San Francisco’s current vacancy rate of 30% might have been cut in half if the city had remained the global blockchain center.

According to him, this was a major development for the business world. Yet, he criticized the SEC’s method of “regulation by enforcement,” advocating instead for transparent regulations to be enacted by Congress.

Larsen criticized this method as un-American and said that regulations should originate from democratically elected officials rather than “power-hungry” bureaucrats:

“This is not the way Americans do things. The legislators, not unelected, power-hungry, misdirected decision-makers like Gary Gensler, should lay out the rules.”

Larsen emphasized the need to have well-defined standards that safeguard customers and encourage creativity. He compared the hazy regulations in the United States to those in locations like London, Singapore, and Dubai, where he said the laws are well-defined and aim to safeguard customers while simultaneously inspiring new ideas.

None of the author’s or any other person’s thoughts or opinions represented herein should be taken as financial, investing, or any other kind of advice. There is the potential for monetary loss while buying, selling, or trading cryptocurrency.

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