Ripple President Says Cryptos Like XRP are Hastening Globalization

The New York Times featured the Ripple Labs president in a recent special series on global consumer behavior in 2024.

“We asked a global group of entrepreneurs, business leaders and academics to assess consumer behavior,” wrote the Times.

Ripple President Explains Global Appeal of XRP

For her part in the series, Long makes the case that TradFi structures are “too slow to support” the current pace of global commercial growth. As a result, the developing world is turning to cryptocurrencies like BTC and XRP:

“In 2023, we saw reports from the International Monetary Fund and the Financial Stability Board specifically citing the ‘cryptoization’ of developing economies where, because of macroeconomic instability and weak inflation controls, people have begun to prefer cryptocurrencies to their local currencies.”

In addition to cryptos like BTC and XRP, the value of which is usually determined by the market’s behavior, Long said developing countries are turning to stablecoins. They provide merchants and consumers shelter from the volatility of some of their local currencies:

“In Argentina, Zimbabwe, and more recently, Nigeria, people increasingly are turning to crypto or U.S. dollar-backed ‘stablecoins’ rather than their volatile home currencies for saving and making purchases.”

Techopedia defines TradFi as “the mainstream financial system and the conventional institutions such as retail, investment, and commercial banks [ … ] that operate within it.”

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said, “Decentralized and traditional finance can thrive in tandem to fund renewable energy and other pressing needs, but only with clear standards and rules,” in a 2022 think piece entitled, “‘DeFi and ‘TradFi’ Must Work Together.”

Meanwhile, clear standards and rules are really all Ripple Labs is looking for from U.S. courts and regulators as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s XRP lawsuit rounds out its third year in litigation.

Ripple Labs Publishes Whitepaper on CBDCs

Long’s interview for the Times coincided with a new Ripple Labs whitepaper on central bank digital currencies. CBDCs could allow central banks to create more public transparency and market efficiency for their sovereign currencies.

In its introduction to the CBDC whitepaper, Ripple notes that there will be some $5 trillion worth of central bank cryptocurrencies circulating globally in the next ten years:

“With an estimated $5 trillion worth of CBDCs in various currencies circulating across the globe in the next decade, the digital evolution of money is upon us. From streamlining cross-border payments to expanding financial inclusion, CBDCs have the potential to create significant value for global economies.”

The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank is considering a CBDC of its own. The Fed says it would “expand safe payment options” and not reduce or replace them. The central bank says it’s studying how a CBDC would provide safe liquidity, new products and services, and faster and cheaper cross-border payments.