Crypto commentator Digital Asset Investor recently drew attention to remarks from Greg Kidd, recalling a pivotal early encounter between Ripple and the US Treasury Department involving XRP. Kidd described how Treasury officials reacted with disbelief when Ripple’s team first introduced XRP, highlighting the asset’s unique place in financial history and its evolving regulatory journey.
Meeting with the US Treasury
Greg Kidd, an early Ripple executive, accompanied co-founder Chris Larsen to the US Treasury Department in Ripple’s earliest days. The goal was to present Ripple and XRP, but according to Kidd, officials seemed unprepared for what they encountered.
Kidd recounted that Treasury staff realized they were dealing with “a global, worldwide, permissionless chain.” The concept did not fit existing financial categories or regulations at the time, which left the officials taken aback. XRP’s launch predated clear regulatory structures, presenting the asset as a challenge for financial authorities who struggled to classify it.
XRP arrived in front of officials before the creation of frameworks to govern such technologies, and by the time Ripple’s representatives left the meeting, Kidd said “their heads were spinning.”
About Greg Kidd
Greg Kidd was Ripple’s tenth employee and its first chief risk officer. He holds degrees from Harvard, Yale, Brown, and Stanford, and worked at the Federal Reserve before joining Ripple. Industry observers, including Digital Asset Investor, have described Kidd as an influential yet often overlooked figure in the company’s rise.
Kidd learned about Ripple during a card game with payments industry insiders. He was attracted to the idea of “a universal ledger, one ledger for all the value in the world,” motivating him to seek a role at Ripple from its early days.
Mini dictionary: Greg Kidd is a payments and risk management specialist, known for early involvement at Ripple and previous roles at the Federal Reserve and multiple Silicon Valley startups.
Ongoing regulatory uncertainty
The early meeting at Treasury underscored a classification issue for XRP, which continued to shape its trajectory over the years. Kidd noted that Ripple initially worried about being classified as money, then shifted concerns to being deemed a security, and later considered it might be seen as a commodity. This evolving interpretation contributed to public regulatory challenges.
The ambiguity became prominent after the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Ripple, questioning whether XRP should be considered a security. Ultimately, a court determined that XRP sold to retail buyers on exchanges did not qualify as a security, a decision many in the XRP community viewed as a defining moment.
Kidd explained that the original regulatory confusion, which began in those early Treasury meetings, finally received a legal resolution with the court’s ruling on XRP’s status for retail transactions.
Regulatory clarity’s impact on XRP
Clear regulatory status is crucial for attracting institutional investors. XRP, designed for rapid cross-border value transfer, relies on the participation of regulated financial entities to fulfill its use case.
Institutional interest has grown as the legal picture around XRP has sharpened, especially with legislative developments such as the upcoming CLARITY Act vote in the US Senate. These shifts signal a potential new phase for XRP and its role in international finance.
