Today the salt blockchain Symposium Kicks off in Wyoming we talked to Dave Ripley the CEO of Kraken about why the Crypto exchange is helping to put this Conference [Music] On welcome to cnbc's crypto world I'm t Mckel on the ground in Jackson Hall Wyoming for the salt blockchain Symposium this is the debut of a new Digital Finance conference hosted by Investment platform salt alongside Partners Kraken and the University of Wyoming Center for blockchain and Digital innovation the state has Positioned itself as a leader in crypto Innovation and legislation in the past Few years giving Crypt Banks State Charters like custodia and leading in DC With crypto legislation from Wyoming Senator Cynthia lumus we'll have more For you from Wyoming in just a second But let's check on prices crypto prices Mostly unchanged as of noon Eastern with Bitcoin up half a percent at $58,800 Okay let's talk about the top stories Billionaire Tech investor and Democratic Donor Ron Conway is reportedly pulling Back his support of crypto super packs Politico reports that Conway who donated $500,000 to a crypto political action Committee late last year is ending his Support after major crypto pack Fairshake committed $12 million to
Unseat democratic Ohio Senator shered Brown Conway reportedly emailed members Of fair shakes Network including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Mark Andrees and Ben Horowitz saying no one Warned him about the effort beforehand Conway reportedly called the decision a Slap in the face as he prepares to meet With Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Conway's Venture firm SV Angel Lists blockchain firms on its portfolio Including coinbase opy and Yuga Labs a Source close to Conway confirmed to CNBC The validity of Politico reporting we Also reached out to fairshake but didn't Hear back next State Street the fourth Largest asset manager in the world is Expanding its digital assets business With a new partnership the firm is Teaming up with digital asset platform Taurus and will use its custody and Tokenization products the asset manager Said in an announcement that these tools Will help State Street automate digital Asset Services like tokenized Securities The partnership of course comes at a Time when Wall Street is looking to Embrace crypto and blockchain Technology But has faced regulatory hurdles here in The US the SEC staff accounting bulletin Or Sab 121 directs financial Institutions holding crypto for Customers to keep the assets on their Own balance sheets some have argued Sab
121 creates confusing or restrictive Accounting standards for companies Wanting to deal in crypto the SEC Meanwhile argues those rules help fend Off technological legal and Regulatory Risks that the agency says aren't Present in safeguarding non- crypto Assets all right let's pivot back to Here in Wyoming for our main story I Spoke to Dave Ripley the CEO of Kraken The partner putting on this blockchain Symposium we discussed the significance Of having this conference here in Wyoming and what's next for the crypto Industry Dave thank you so much for joining us Today what a beautiful event I'm very Excited to be here what is the Significance of being here in Wyoming Right now at this you know part of the Cycle yeah well it's uh it's awesome to Be here TAA thanks for thanks for having Me on uh so a number of things I mean The significance of Wyoming for us is Actually really significant I first came To Wyoming uh I think it was back in February of 2019 in the bare Market of Crypto and a cold cold day probably Negative degrees windchill when I was Here and uh Wyoming has taken a forward Approach to to crypto since that time Actually putting in place a regulatory Structure that we're now a part of um Which has frankly been fantastic they've
Really been an example uh for the world For the rest of the US and for the world On how to do this right um but the Significance of like kind of this time Period I mean I think frankly think We're in an awesome time period we uh You know if you look back uh I don't Know year plus ago negative sentiment Prices depressed um kind of a lot of Negative pressure in the US government Policy environment G gar and all this Chaotics SEC stuff and uh we look Forward to today and uh you know Positive sentiment is return the price Is of course up we just had the having And so a number of uh things that I Think are in in Catalyst going forward As well the ETF and more so I think it's A positive Environment what are some of the the Things that you expect to hear out of This conference or at least in Conversations that you're hoping to take Place yeah well this conference I mean I Think it's a really a few different Things you know one is um there's a Number of Institutions here it's not a Huge conference as far as total Attendees but there's a number of like Really meaningful institutions that have Either adopted crypto or assumed to Adopt crypto and so um you know we have Our team here engaging with a lot of These different uh institutions which is
You know kind of you know Point number One um number of the others of course Are you know potential or existing Investors in Kraken so we do some Investor relations while here as well And the last thing is coming back to This US policy piece we have a really Active environment um things have moved Really positively over the past couple Months it's now an election issue and so There's a number of people from kind of Uh US policy government side that that Are here as well and so we've been Meeting with them for a couple years now Trying to move things forward and we Finally got some momentum over the past Couple months and so we're looking to Further that I feel like we've been Talking about Wyoming and you know how Innovative it's been around creating a Friendly business environment for crypto Businesses um Kraken has been able to Take advantage of that you launched Kraken Bank this year tell me a little Bit about why Wyoming was key to that And how the business is going so far Yeah well as I mentioned before the um You know the regulatory structure they Put put put in place here is one that's Like purpose-built for crypto and taking Into account both individuals and the The actual end customers and businesses And promoting Innovation so it's really Um you know the most positive structure
We've seen uh with kraken's role we've Actually um uh put in place what's Called a special purpose depository Institution and the structure is Basically a full Reserve Bank with uh a Number of kind of crypto specific laws On top of it we launched that earlier This year it's our answer for qualified Custody uh we've seen great um adoption And uptake among different institutions Here in the US and so we're really Looking to continue to grow that part of The business all right so you mentioned Policy before we're all kind of in wait And see mode to see what happens in November after the election but it's Been a good year Bitcoin still holding On to a solid year-to-date Gain what would you say is sort of the Next big thing in crypto we've got ETFs This year and that has kind of Made holding Bitcoin or trading it even More mainstream than ever let's say but Crypto was always meant to be about more Than just buying and holding and Speculating on an asset so what are some Of the key themes that you are watching In crypto that you expect to see take Off you know as this bull market Continues yeah you make a great Point Here because in crypto this is what we Love to see we love to see the use cases And the growth in infrastructure and Adoption come from all different places
The ETF is one you're right it is um in Some ways not the true essence of crypto But it brings kind of Simplicity and Familiarity for both individuals and and Uh institutions individuals it's in Their familiar brokerage account uh Institutions it's kind of a familiar Regulatory structure for them lowers the Barriers and they adopt um but the the Real world of crypto out there on chain Is really the meaningful one and you Know we had defi as a meaningful Application come online last cycle and I Think one important thing to not is That's only grown since even through Kind of the slower Market period uh over The past couple of years quote unquote Bare Market we saw increasing adoption Of defi lending networks decentralized Exchanges growing as a share of the Total and I think that's like one of the Most meaningful applications out there Not to mention there'll be new ones that Come online we're talking about Decentralized social and a number of Things out there but we really believe Defi is a meaning one meaningful one That was like came into real existence Last cycle and is only going to grow Through this one and what is kraken's Role or any of kraken's business's role In watching that theme take off yeah Well I mean on both fronts the ETF we Have a number of ways where we you know
We the ETF providers themselves are are Customers the majority of them actually Run on Kraken index and then if we shift Over to uh the defi space yeah Kraken we Kind of view ourselves as a bridge from The Legacy Financial system to the Crypto ecosystem and as we build that Bridge deeper and deeper into the cryp Crypto ecosystem will interact more and More and provide access to those defi Networks directly from our wallet and um You know a number of other different Parts of our Platform what about payments consumer Payments remittances uh you know a key Theme that I hear a lot from Institutions uh is always tokenization And stable coins we're in Wyoming and You know I think we're going to have the Governor of Wyoming here this week Talking about the Wyoming stable token Project uh what do you make of consumer Payments as as sort of the killer app For crypto which is how which is how it Is widely seen in the crypto space give Me a reality check on that well for for One thing I agree it's inevitable and It's definitely a use case and adoption But all these things go on the the time Dimension right when are they going to Happen so I think we've seen more Adoption um among uh pay on the payment Side for kind of high value crossborder Transfers I mean that's where when
Stable coins are used for uh payments That's where we see them most adopted Right now and today and so I think that Is where we see the you know most Friction highest cost sending money Internationally um certainly high value Transactions for you know sometimes Individuals but even more so small Businesses a small business in Brazil Wanting to pay a vendor in India or Something along those lines and you know It's just a lot of friction a lot of Cost and so we see stable coins being Adopted there um more so and so I think Th those are places where we're going to See where there's the highest friction We're going to see stable coins come Into the fold uh you know or or crypto Directly Bitcoin uh for adoption you Know retail payments consumer payments Particularly in the developed world you Know it's going to grow and we're Starting to see a little bit of it but It won't uh grow in kind of like Significance as quick as some of those Other places where there's higher Friction okay that's all for crypto World today but we'll have much more From this conference throughout the week We'll be back tomorrow and we'll see you Then [Music]
