Is Ripple Leaving US? CEO Backpedals On Threats After Biden Win

After threatening to leave the U.S. amid concerns of regulatory uncertainty around XRP crypto tokens, Ripple has now decided to adopt a "wait and see" approach, especially after the election of Joe Biden as president.

Speaking to CNN, Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, said the company has not put a strict timeline on when the company will make a decision to relocate. "I think I am waiting to see what dynamics change, associated with the Biden administration beginning their term in office, and I am optimistic that will actually improve where things sit for the XRP community broadly," he said.

The latest statement from Garlinghouse, who donated to the Biden campaign (and previously to Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris' campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination), was in stark contrast to what he said weeks ago when he threatened to relocate the company after its efforts to engage with federal regulators turned futile, Coindesk reported.

Statements criticizing regulators is also a change of tone from how Ripple positioned itself as one of the most regulatory compliant in the cryptocurrency industry. As the second company to obtain a BitLicense from the New York state, Ripple positioned itself as a company that assists in regulation, in contrast with Bitcoin's early libertarian adopters.

Lately, a shift in tone was observed from Ripple's leadership. Last month, Garlinghouse said an opaque regulatory was keeping Ripple from reaching its potential, news outlet The Block reported. He complained that the current regulatory climate was not a level playing field for all digital assets. "Bitcoin was the only one with the hall pass," he remarked.

Ripple did not create XRP tokens, but it was gifted with 80 billion tokens by its founders. It is also currently the largest holder of XRP. Since XRP is in Ripple's balance sheet, the company considers XRP's legal status crucial, a source with knowledge of Ripple's business told CoinDesk.

Because of that, the company doesn't want the Securities and Exchange Commission to view it as a security. With that not happening soon, it remains to be seen whether Ripple will push through with its threat to leave the U.S. or not.