1/ After ~9 amazing years I’ve decided to wrap up my day job at @Ripple. Luckily, I’m not going far as I join the Board of Directors, where I’ll continue to provide input on company vision + strategy. I haven’t decided what’s next, but plan to continuing BUIDL in crypto :) 2/ In the past few days, I’ve had the chance to reflect on where we’ve come from and how much we’ve accomplished both as Ripple, and as an industry through some memorable moments and launches over the years.

1/ Coming off our best year yet, RippleNet ended Q1 2022 with record numbers and customer demand. Some of the highlights by the numbers 👇 2/ RippleNet reached a $15B annualized payment volume run rate, as customers expand the use of RippleNet and ODL beyond remittances (including treasury and SME payments)

Seeing some tweets comparing Lightning-based cross-border payment apps to Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity product (with XRP). More players focused on this problem is a good thing for the industry IMO but let’s clear up some misconceptions: Keep in mind that using digital assets is one* component of the ODL solution. 1/ Our team has built expertise in markets against super hard fiat destination currencies (PHP, MXN, etc) - we solved the challenges w/ liquidity to ramp up hundreds of customers over the years.

Today’s EO definitely puts a stake in the ground on crypto like we haven’t seen from the US govt. After years of “crypto is only for money laundering” or “crypto doesn’t have any real use cases” this is a refreshing read. whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/… Beyond the specifics, the main message I take away is that the US sees crypto as an opportunity to remain a technology leader globally – same as in the 90’s bipartisan legislation that paved the way for the internet.

(thread ahead) In the last few days, we’ve seen some say that Russia could potentially evade sanctions and get around SWIFT using crypto. I outline some of the key arguments refuting this below (and a chart 😄) 1. Crypto is only becoming more easily trackable by software and governments

[Thread ahead] For businesses who have yet to employ a Web3/Crypto strategy, you’re missing out on a huge growth opportunity. And if you're only thinking about Crypto as another payment option for customers - you're missing the forest for the trees. Take Uber as an example... .@dkhos recently mentioned a desire to accept crypto payments in the future. With over 100MM active users, Uber is sitting on a massive opportunity for (even more) growth. I mapped out a few different angles they could take, with a focus on leveraging their local footprint 👇🏿

1/ Just over a year ago, I got involved in the @recallsfboe effort because SF School Board completely failed in its purpose to further education. See my interview clip last night picked up by @abc7newsbayarea and @CNN. Stronger family communities = stronger San Francisco. 2/ I’ve been so amazed by the many people I met along the way who helped make the recall successful! I met the amazing @autumnlooijen and @JoelEngardio· at the recall drive-thru. Volunteers were inching their way to help collect over 80k signatures needed to get on the ballot.

After nearly a decade in crypto, I’m still amazed at how quickly this industry evolves. It’s growing block after block (pun intended), like legos that can be put together to form infinite use cases. At Ripple, we’re taking that philosophy to heart. 1/5 ripple.com/insights/evolv… For years, Ripple focused on building and deploying RippleNet to solve the many frictions with cross-border payments. It’s no surprise that so many fintechs and crypto companies are focused on cross-border payments - FX margins were the highest here. 2/5

Seems like every week there’s a new milestone for crypto - today it’s the @coinbase IPO, last week it was crypto’s market cap hitting $2T. Today’s news is hard to imagine even 2 yrs ago - so many (investors to regulators) doubted crypto’s ability to survive, much less thrive. 1/5 Now, we see headlines daily of another company adding crypto to their balance sheet OR integrating it into their products. At the same time, much of the old guard is still in a stalemate. The likes of HSBC and others are going so far as to ban the buying of BTC-backed shares. 2/5

All things considered, Ripple had a pretty incredible year in 2020. In my 7+ years at Ripple, I remain insanely proud of what this team has achieved, and I’m bullish on where we’re going. Diving deeper specifically on RippleNet... 1/8

https://twitter.com/bgarlinghouse/status/1353801506592444416

We processed ~3M transactions on RN in 2020, and ODL is rapidly growing. ODL transactions accounted for $2.4B in notional value. We planted the RN flag in 18 new countries and signed 15 deals AFTER the SEC complaint was made public. 2/8

Seen some Qs lately on stablecoins vs cryptocurrencies (BTC, ETH, XRP). First and foremost: it’s very clear that these technologies are complementary, not competitive. It boils down to these points for me 👇🏾 What stablecoins offer:
1. Immutable standards - ERC-20, XRPL IOU, etc. Innovative financial services can be built off of these standards without having to worry about breaking API changes, downtime, etc.

Customers have told us time and again that access to capital is the biggest barrier to growth. Scaling quickly is a must. If you’re an incumbent w/ a large balance sheet, that’s easy. Startups/SMEs/eCommerce companies unfortunately lack the resources to do the same. 1/5

https://twitter.com/Ripple/status/1314240545762562048

Now, customers using On-Demand Liquidity can use Line of Credit, which provides upfront access to capital through a single credit arrangement - simplifying access to solutions that let you scale, enter new markets and reach new customers. 2/5

It’s been a wild few weeks in crypto! OCC has greenlighted banks to get involved, #Bitcoin hits $12,000, DeFi is booming, futures products are soaring, and adjusted txn value for stablecoins hit an all-time high. And this is just a fraction of the news… (1/7) What’s one common denominator here? Likely global uncertainty with fiat currencies, and many in the crypto industry focusing on utility, beyond just speculation. Examples like Dodgecoin aside, there’s a new, growing focus on an asset’s use case, its tangibility. (2/7)