The announcement last week by Ripple of a “major expansion of its presence across Brazil” should be viewed not just as a press release by a company but a broader sign of institutional digital asset adoption in one of the world’s fastest-growing financial markets. And that adoption will only accelerate if Trump ally and crypto friend Flávio Bolsonaro is elected president this Fall. According to Ripple’s announcement, Ripple will seek a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license from the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB). That accords to Brazil’s new virtual asset regulatory framework and also reflects the “compliance-first vibe” that has been Ripple’s hallmark over the company’s decade-plus history. With…
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SEC Chairman Gary Gensler in an official government photo from his service as Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. (Photo: CFTC)What Gensler role in Long Term Capital Debacle Tells us about his war on crypto
25th anniversary occasions a look at SEC chair’s small part
This is the 25th anniversary of the September 1998 collapse of Long-Term Capital Management. That was one of the most stunning events in Wall Street history, as the firm allowed its leverage to grow to more than 100 to 1. But it was shocking beyond the sudden evaporation of $4 billion in value—that was a lot of money 25 years ago— but also because the firm had been put together specifically on the basis of its supposed genius for understanding and managing risk. The firm was dominated not by great traders but by intellectual supermen, including Robert Merton and Myron Scholes. Merton and Scholes had won the Nobel prize just…
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Backing Centigrade, Ripple Tries to Save Mother Earth
Fintech company bets on blockchain for carbon offsets
In the wake of Ripple’s historic David-versus-Goliath near-total victory over the SEC in July, those who follow the company are excused if they missed its announcement about its investment in Centigrade. But this move, seeking to establish an open data platform serving the market for global carbon offsets, sets a goal even more ambitious and improbable than prevailing against a government agency with infinite resource: Saving the planet. According to Centigrade, the new platform “will provide developers of carbon and nature credits with a low-barrier, intuitive way to bring their projects to market, providing full data transparency and traceability for the entire lifecycle of credits.” Carbon markets allow organizations to…
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Obama Treasury official Michael Barr will not be Comptroller of the Currency (Photo: University of Michigan)Ripple advisor’s crypto connections kill appointment as banking regulator
Former Ripple Advisory Board member Michael Barr was too moderate and pro-crypto for progressives who blocked his nomination as Comptroller of the Currency
Barr was seen as part of a trio of crypto-friendly financial regulators nominated or under consideration by the administration of President Joe Biden. Former MIT digital asset and blockchain professor Gary Gensler is in the process of being confirmed as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), while DC Fintech Week conference head Chris Brummer is said the be the choice to lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
