Blockchain company Ripple said Thursday it received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country’s central bank, to operate as a Major Payment Institution in Singapore. This is a rare moment of good news for the cryptocurrency industry globally as it faces tightening policy back home in the United States.
The license will allow Ripple to offer regulated digital payment token products and services and expand the use of XRP, a cryptocurrency closely associated with the company, among its customers, which are banks and financial institutions. XRP was trading at around 50 cents late Wednesday evening.
Ripple is mostly known for XRP as well as an interbank messaging services based on blockchain, the distributed ledger technology that underpins many cryptocurrencies. The company’s on-demand liquidity service uses XRP as a bridge between currencies, allowing payment providers and banks to process cross-border transactions much faster than they would over legacy payment rails. Ripple also operates a blockchain-based international messaging system called RippleNet to facilitate massive transfers of funds between banks and other financial institutions, similar to the global interbank messaging system SWIFT.
The company is currently sparring with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over a lawsuit. The SEC charges Ripple, co-founder Christian Larsen and CEO Brad Garlinghouse with conducting an illegal securities offering that raised more than $1.3 billion through sales of XRP. Ripple denies the SEC allegations, contending that XRP is a currency rather than a security that would be subject to strict rules.
Singapore is one of the largest currency corridors from which Ripple sends money across borders using XRP, the company said in a press release. A majority of Ripple’s global on-demand liquidity transactions flow through Singapore, which serves as the company’s regional Asia-Pacific headquarters, and Ripple has doubled its headcount in Singapore over the past year across key functions including business development, compliance, and finance.
MAS was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC. Recently, Ripple’s Garlinghouse said the firm will have spent more than $200 million in legal fees by the time its legal battle with the SEC is wrapped up.
Garlinghouse is due to speak at the Point Zero Forum in Zurich, Switzerland, next Wednesday to discuss the resurgence of innovation in digital assets through investment and thoughtful regulation. This comes on the heels of Ripple’s $250 million purchase of Metaco, a crypto custody services firm, to expand its reach in the Swiss market and diversify away from its home in the U.S.
