California Governor Spotted at Ripple HQ

California Governor Gavin Newsom had a meeting at the headquarters of San Francisco-based blockchain firm Ripple earlier this July. Newsom is working on a new project, which aims to improve the efficiency of state government by collaborating with local tech leaders. The initiative, which has been dubbed the "California Breakthrough Project," is meant to bring AI and blockchain innovation borrowed from the private sector into the public sector. In his statement, Newsom has stressed that California, which could rank as the world's fourth-largest economy, is the "birthplace of modern tech," which is why it is capable of bringing "the best and brightest together." The participants who were present during the high-profile meeting come from such areas as crypto, fintech, logistics, defense tech, and so on. They include Chris Larsen, executive chairman at Ripple, Asheesh Birla, former general manager at Ripple, Jeff Lawson, chief executive officer at Twilio, Ron Conway, founder of venture capital giant SV Angel, Jason Wheeler, former CFO at Tesla, and some other big names. The photo shows that Larsen was seated directly across from Newsom during the meeting. Back in May 2022, the California governor executive order to create a clear regulatory environment for digital asset companies. In October 2023, he also greenlit a crucial crypto regulation bill. The bill, which was originally supposed to take effect earlier this month, has been postponed to July 2026.