Chris Larsen warns that Ripple may leave U.S. for a more favorable regulatory environment

According to Chris Larsen, co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple Labs, the company is likely to move its headquarters overseas because due to the regulatory stance of the federal government towards the crypto industry. 

Larsen made the comments at the LA Blockchain Summit on Tuesday. He argued that almost every country besides the U.S. has a favorable system to regulate crypto, adding that the U.K. and Singapore top the list of likely new locations if the San Francisco-based company indeed decides to leave the U.S. 

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Ripple has been in an ongoing legal fight with investors who allege that the company violated state and federal securities laws by selling the digital currency XRP. The firm maintains that although it owns a large amount of XRP, the network used to settle XRP transactions is decentralized.

“Purchasing XRP is not an 'investment' in Ripple; there is no common enterprise between Ripple and XRP purchasers; there was no promise that Ripple would help generate profits for XRP holders, and the XRP Ledger is decentralized," the company stated in a September 2019 court filing.

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Saniya More (pronounced: Saan-ya Mo-ray) is a quadrilingual journalist at The Block. She got her master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and did her undergraduate degree at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University. Her work has appeared in CBS News, Bangkok Post, Thai Enquirer, Globalists, Byline Times and other publications. When she’s not chasing a story, you will most likely find her biking, tweeting, taking photos or creating Spotify playlists for every occasion.