Bitcoin firm Ripple Labs followed the footsteps of other cryptocurrency companies hiring former fed officials to join their group, as they recently welcomed former US State Department official Anja Manuel to their strategic advisory board.
In her work at the US State Department, Manuel has been part of the negotiating team for the US-India civilian nuclear accord and contributed to developing US policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan. At the moment, she also works with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as a co-founder and partner at consulting firm RiceHadleyGates LLC.
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Last year, Ripple Labs already appointed Susan Athey, a professor of economics at Stanford Graduate School of Business and senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economics Policy Research to their bitcoin firm board of directors. Then in January, Gene Sperling, a former economic adviser to both former President Bill Clinton and current President Barack Obama also joined the company’s board of directors.
Ripple Labs appears to be making significant progress in transforming bitcoin to a more acceptable means of payment. Just recently, the bitcoin start-up firm confirmed it had joined the International Payments Framework Association (IFPA), which provides rules, best practices and guidance on how to improve cross-border payments. It is also affiliated with SWIFT and Automated Clearing House (ACH).
Prior to this, the company announced that CBW Bank and Cross River Bank have adopted their open-source payment protocol using bitcoin. Ripple Labs CEO Chris Larsen says that the company plans to grow bitcoin’s international acceptance and adoption by various financial institutions with the help of the former federal officials they’ve hired.
Just this month, another bitcoin firm BitFury announced that it would be hiring former DOJ criminal division head Jason M. Weinstein to be part of its strategic advisory board.