Ripple opened an office in Dubai's International Financial Center (DIFC). The company behind XRP clearly signals it isn't restricted to its country of origin, the USA. The crypto markets are global and this is a good thing: it prevents any country from choking the industry.

Dubai is a hub for crypto companies and traders. Ripple, which uses XRP, also plans to host its annual customer conference in Dubai. It is scheduled for November 8-9, 2023. 

Ripple's CEO Brad Garlinghouse has praised Dubai's crypto regulation and gave it as one of the reasons for the location of the new office.  

As crypto markets are global, it's to be expected that crypto companies will flock to countries where regulations are favorable (a phenomenon called regulatory arbitrage). While the USA is stifling the industry, the EU is doing a better job. A recent study found that venture capital investments into European countries has risen from 6% of worldwide total to 47%, while the US has dropped from 55% to 30%. 

Pending lawsuit

The ongoing lawsuit against the American financial watchdog SEC will cost Ripple 200 million dollars in legal fees. Fees they won't have to make in Dubai because of its regulatory clarity. 

But it's not just that Ripple wants to leave the USA because of regulatory opposition. 90% of their customers are located outside of the US. That's because RippleNet helps with remittances. Clients use RippleNet to facilitate remittances from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia to India.