Chris Larsen, Ripple co-founder and chairman of the payments technology company’s board of directors, said China’s “itching” to be the one that designs the next financial system and that the U.S. is “woefully behind.”

• Speaking at the LA Blockchain Summit last week, Larsen said the U.S. needs to face up to that it's in a tech cold war with China with the fate of control of the world's financial system at stake. Right now, China's winning, he said.
• "China is just itching to be the one that designs this next system," Larsen said. "They’ve committed $1.4 trillion to a variety of technologies and blockchain is right at the top of their list.” 
• It's not just that China's pumping money into technology, the regulatory environment in the U.S. is actively discouraging financial innovation, he said.
• “I just have to say it, in the U.S., all things blockchain, digital currency, they start and end with the SEC, Larsen said. "Instead of pivoting to encouraging U.S. innovation to keep up, they’ve done the opposite."
• "We’re going to have to change up here or we’re going to lose our leadership, stewardship of the global financial system," he said. "That would be a tragedy."
• As CoinDesk reported at the time, Larsen also said his company could leave the U.S. if the regulatory environment doesn't improve.
  

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