SINGAPORE - Payment network Ripple is ramping up hiring outside the United States, with Singapore being a key market as it secures a full licence from the Republic’s regulator to offer digital token payment (DPT) services here.
The firm’s Singapore subsidiary, Ripple Markets Apac, now has the major payment institution licence under the Payment Services Act. It joins more than a dozen firms that are licensed to offer DPT services here.
The development comes four months after the firm was granted in-principle approval (IPA) in June, making it among those market players which received a full licence speedily after the IPA.
Nearly 40 per cent of the network’s global staff are outside the US, and this is expected to grow to 50 per cent by the end of 2023, said Ripple.
Last quarter, about 80 per cent of hires were outside of the US.
Currently, over 85 per cent of the group’s roles that are open are based outside the US.
Mr Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s chief executive, said: “Since establishing Singapore as our Asia-Pacific headquarters in 2017, the country has been pivotal to Ripple’s global business.
“We have hired exceptional talent and local leadership, doubling headcount over the past year, and plan to continue growing our presence in a progressive jurisdiction like Singapore.”
Over 90 per cent of Ripple’s business is outside the US, and Singapore – and to a larger degree, the Asia-Pacific – is one of its fastest-growing regions.
The company said it would continue to prioritise the Asia-Pacific region for adoption of its crypto-enabled payments solutions.
Before these developments, the American company had been operating under exemption from holding a licence under the Act since 2020.
The company is currently in a legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In 2020, the SEC accused Ripple and its co-founders of breaching securities laws by selling US$1.3 billion (S$1.8 billion) of its native cryptocurrency XRP without first registering it as a security.
In July, a New York judge delivered a landmark ruling that said XRP in itself was “not necessarily a security on its face”. This contested, in part, SEC’s claims.
The judge also ruled that sales of XRP by Ripple to institutional buyers do count as unregistered sales of securities. The SEC has said it would file an appeal.
