San Francisco-based fintech firm Ripple announced on Tuesday that former U.S. treasurer, Rosa “Rosie” Gumataotao Rios, is joining its board of advisers.

Rios will provide “invaluable perspective to Ripple, especially during this time as the industry works to define crypto’s future,” the company’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated. She appears to have filled the seat on Ripple’s board vacated by SBI Holdings CEO Yoshitaka Kitao who quietly left in March. 

Rios was the 43^rd treasurer from 2009 to 2016, serving under President Barack Obama. As an aside, all dollar banknotes printed during her tenure bore her signature. Rios’ three-decade long career has been dedicated to financial inclusion which requires introducing new and innovative solutions. She posited that Ripple is “one of the best examples of how to use cryptocurrency in a substantive and legitimate role to facilitate payments globally.”

Ripple utilizes blockchain technology to facilitate cross-border payments. The company maintains that its settlement solution is less cumbersome, cheaper, and faster compared to legacy systems like SWIFT. Ripple also uses XRP to fuel the On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service which allows banks to move money across borders.

Rosie Rios’ appointment seems apropos given the ongoing fight with the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). The regulatory agency sued the crypto powerhouse and two top executives late last year for allegedly violating U.S. securities law when selling XRP tokens.

Ripple, which controls a vast amount of XRP, has vowed to fervently defend itself in court as it believes XRP is a cryptocurrency like bitcoin and ethereum and not security.

Ripple has also named Kristina Campbell as the new chief financial officer (CFO) to “accelerate growth and deliver value to shareholders”. Prior to joining Ripple, she served as a CFO at payments platform PayNearMe. She has replaced Ron Will who joined Ripple in November 2017 before leaving in September 2020. Campbell postulated that she intends to “make the global financial system accessible to all.”

Commenting on these two appointees, Garlinghouse said: 

“These two exceptional leaders join Ripple at a pivotal time for the company[…] We are extremely fortunate to have them on the team as we continue our rapid international growth and to champion for regulatory clarity in the U.S.”

The new leaderships come as meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin eclipsed Ripple-affiliated XRP as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap amid a mind-blowing ascent.