Ripple CEO Says CLARITY Act Will Unleash Institutional Crypto Adoption

Institutional adoption of cryptocurrency could be accelerated by passage of the CLARITY Act, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said Wednesday (May 13), according to a report by Binance News.

Speaking during the Binance Online event, Garlinghouse said that banks need regulatory clarity because of the long planning horizons on which they operate and that it’s not enough to have supportive leadership at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) because that leadership could change.

Garlinghouse said the potential for institutional crypto activity is much greater than the current reality.

“With the CLARITY Act, you’ll see the largest financial institutions leaning in in a way we’ve never seen before,” Garlinghouse said, per the report.

During the same roundtable discussion at Binance Online, Solana Foundation President Lily Liu said that the regulation through enforcement that was seen under the previous U.S. administration could not provide the kind of clarity that legislation can.

Liu added that the CLARITY Act would provide guidance around the world, due to the size and influence the United States has on the global economy. She added that the CLARITY Act could have an impact similar to that of the GENIUS Act, which changed the perception of stablecoins.

“The CLARITY Act would do the same for nonpayments use cases — regulated financial institutions being able to actually sort of jump into blockchain,” Liu said, per the report.

Binance CEO Richard Teng said during the roundtable that some jurisdictions around the globe, including Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore, tend to align their regulatory frameworks with those of the U.S.

Teng said that happened with the GENIUS Act.

“It’s not only prompted institutions to act within the U.S., but it prompted international regulators and policymakers to formulate their own stablecoin to make sure that they keep pace with what’s happening in the U.S.,” Teng said, per the report. “Hong Kong issued their own stablecoin and stablecoin licenses recently.”

PYMNTS reported Tuesday (May 12) that the U.S. Senate Banking Committee had scheduled a markup of the CLARITY Act for Thursday (May 14) and that Washington’s crypto negotiators were racing to prepare for it.