Ripple CEO Speaks About The Future Of Blockchain Technology at WEF 2019

By Swati Kishore

The ongoing World Economic Forum in Davos is witnessing the congregation of global leaders to exchange ideas on the world’s economy. The event saw the Chief Executive Officer at Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, speak at length about Blockchain Technology, its future, and the role of banks in driving the revolution fuelled by the emerging technology.

At the event, Garlinghouse, who heads one of the world’s most well-known Blockchain Tech companies, also cleaned the slate regarding people’s doubts about Ripple and its synonymous cryptocurrency XRP.

The CEO also opened up about how the Blockchain-based gaming industry is to see increased growth in the year 2019.

Garlinhouse described 2018 as the ‘year of the hangover’ for businesses in the crypto industry.

According to the CEO, the hangover was the result of the slew of changes that the industry underwent. Notably, 2018 saw the bears taking the prices of most of the well-known currencies down by massive percentage as compared to their 2017 highs.

Garlinghouse described this so-called change by providing the analogy of Chinese mining giant Bitmain which laid off its employees. He also explained how financial regulators across the world stirred the change by eliminating the malpractices orchestrated by many bad players in the crypto world.

Garlinghouse explained how transparency from regulators in the United States will rev up the adoption of emerging technologies. He said,

“There will be more maturity of projects of real use-cases solving real problems with more transparency as I described. I think we will get more transparency from U.S. regulators about these technologies.”

The CEO went on to explain how the US lags behind its global counterparts in terms of forming regulatory frameworks. Garlinghouse believes that 2019 should bring more clarity regarding crypto regulations.

Another key prediction made by Garlinghouse explained that traditional banks will transition as custodians of cryptocurrencies in 2019

On being asked a question about whether the gaming industry will fuel the mass adoption of Blockchain Technology, Garlinghouse said,

“I think this is one area where blockchain use is underhyped… it is incredibly interesting in terms of which underlying blockchain is most efficient… I think there’s a couple being built upon the XRP Ledger and I think it’s gonna be a very interesting space to watch in 2019.”

Well, if Garlinghouse’s predictions are anything to go by then 2019 might just be the year when Blockchain Technology gains the much-needed momentum!