As managing director for Europe, Young will be charged with championing the expansion of the firm's blockchain-based RippleNet network among EU institutions.

With over fifteen years of experience in fintech, payments and consulting, Young joins Ripple following a five-year tenure at Mastercard, where she held leadership roles driving strategy, commercialisation, bank-fintech partnerships and business development. Most recently, she led the Fintech & Digital Segment globally for Mastercard’s Data & Services business, helping banks adopt real-time payments, Open Banking and artificial intelligence.

For all her past experiences in payments, Young is no fan of current infrastructure models. "The underlying payments and banking infrastructure remains an obstacle to frictionless value exchange across borders and inclusion," she says. "I firmly believe that blockchain and crypto will be a game-changer to enhance today’s finance, by addressing its core inefficiencies. These technologies can make the global financial system fairer, more inclusive and more transparent.".”

A quarter of Ripple’s current customers are based in Europe, and year to date, European On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) transactions grew by 250% in comparison to 2020, making up over 40% of all ODL transactions year to date.

Asheesh Birla, general manager of RippleNet, comments: “Sendi’s appointment represents a huge opportunity for our European operations given her leadership experience, deep understanding of the payments landscape, and knowledge of how to grow and scale a network business."