Ripple Shortlists Singapore for Move

The blockchain payments company could leave the U.S. over lack of regulatory clarity. San Francisco-based Ripple is considering a move out of the U.S. as authorities there remain divided on whether to treat cryptocurrencies as a commodity, currency, property or security, according to a report on Thursday.

The firm has shortlisted Japan and Singapore as potential destinations, along with Switzerland, Britain and the United Arab Emirates. The common denominator between all of them is that their governments have created a clarity about how they would regulate different digital assets, different cryptocurrencies, chief executive Brad Garlinghouse said.

Ripple operates a blockchain-powered real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange, and remittance network. Japan is one of its fastest-growing markets, and works with Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings in a joint venture offering global payment services driven by blockchain technology.

Southeast Asia, however, is also an important market for the firm, driven by the advent and growth of digital banking in the region. Among the firm’s customers in the region are Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand, CIMB in Malaysia, and Nium, formerly known as InstaReM, in Singapore.

In March, the company appointed a senior executive as head of Southeast Asia operations to oversee Ripple’s expansion in the region, and spearhead efforts to drive the growth of its customer base.

In 2019, Ripple and the National University of Singapore opened the FinTech Lab, part of the company’s $50 million University Blockchain Research Initiative.