Ripple's Larsen Says US Risks Losing Stewardship of Global Financial System to China, Disses SEC

Oct 11, 2020 at 15:56 UTCUpdated Oct 12, 2020 at 14:46 UTC.Chris Larsen, Ripple co-founder and chairman of the payments technology company's board of directors, said China's "Itching" to be the one that designs the next financial system, and that the U.S. is "Woefully behind."

Speaking at the LA Blockchain Summit last week, Larsen said the U.S. needs to realize it's in a tech "Cold war" with China, with the fate of control of the world's financial system at stake.

"China is just itching to be the one that designs this next system," Larsen said.

"They've committed $1.4 trillion to a variety of technologies and blockchain is right at the top of their list."

It's not just that China's pumping money into technology, the regulatory environment in the U.S. is actively discouraging financial innovation, he said.

"I just have to say it, in the U.S., all things blockchain, digital currency, they start and end with the SEC," Larsen said, referring to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"Instead of pivoting to encouraging U.S. innovation to keep up, they've done the opposite."

"We're going to have to change up here or we're going to lose our leadership, stewardship of the global financial system," he said.

As CoinDesk reported at the time, Larsen also said his company may leave the U.S. if the regulatory environment doesn't improve.