Prime Minister Xavier Bettel of Luxembourg at the Ripple Labs offices in downtown San Francisco
Ripple Labs is honored to have hosted Prime Minister Xavier Bettel of Luxembourg, who visited our offices in downtown San Francisco on Wednesday.
While such a visit might seem out of place for the leader of a nation, it’s par for the course with Prime Minister Bettel, who is committed to cementing Luxembourg’s status as a rising international hub for technological innovation.
Today, the European headquarters for Skype, Amazon, and Paypal are all based there. And the Prime Minister is no tech slouch himself, as evidenced by his recent public appearance via hologram.
During his visit, Prime Minister Bettel was eager to learn about Ripple and the potential impact the technology could have on the world’s financial systems—Luxembourg, of course, is also Europe’s private banking capital.
Prime Minister Xavier Bettel of Luxembourg with Ripple Labs co-founder and CEO Chris Larsen and Chief Compliance Officer Karen Gifford
The Prime Minister also underlined that Luxembourg is facing a period of change. “Luxembourg has always been innovative,” he told Ripple Labs. “This is what made us one of the leading banking centers in the world. Innovation and creative thinking is what is needed in the financial sector as it is in other business areas where Luxembourg is developing new activities.”
“The IT sector is a key element of our strategy and fintech holds huge promises for innovation and growth in Luxembourg,” he said.
In all, it was an exciting and fruitful visit. We wish Prime Minister Bettel well and hope to see him again soon. You can follow the Prime Minister on Twitter at @xavier_bettel.
