"I am excited to join Ripple Labs and their mission to dramatically increase the speed and efficiency of cross-border payments through a common Internet protocol," said Sperling. "The currency-neutral Ripple protocol is a unique technology that can fundamentally transform correspondent banking and lead to real-time payment systems. Furthermore, by seeking to do for payments what HTTP did for information sharing, the Ripple protocol can help advance the movement toward universal access to financial markets and services."

Sperling served as NEC Director and National Economic Advisor under President Clinton from 1997 to 2001 and then under President Obama from 2011 to 2014. Prior, he was senior counselor to Treasury Secretary Geithner, advising on financial crisis and auto rescue issues as well as being lead advisor on fiscal and jobs issues. In 2008, he was a chief economic advisor to Hillary Clinton during her Presidential campaign.

He is currently President of Sperling Economic Strategies, which advises financial companies, start-ups, Fortune 500 companies and philanthropies, including PIMCO. Sperling was named one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Global Finance by Worth Magazine and as one of the 50 Most Powerful People in Washington by GQ.

"I am thrilled to welcome Gene to the Ripple Labs team," said Ripple Labs CEO Chris Larsen. "As a respected leader on economic issues, his experience and insights will be critical in building on our recent momentum gaining traction with financial institutions and network operators."

Sperling joins Susan Athey, a Professor of Economics at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economics Policy Research, on the Ripple Labs Board of Directors. Together, the two economists provide a unique blend of academic, corporate and government expertise in support of Ripple Labs' work with banks, network operators and government regulators.

Sperling graduated from the University of Minnesota and Yale Law School, and attended Wharton Business School. His work extends beyond economics, having served as the founder and Director of the Center for Universal Education at the Council on Foreign Relations and Brookings Institute. He co-authored a book entitled What Works in Girls' Education: Evidence and Policies from the Developing World, and he was also Senior Fellow for Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress, where he authored The Pro-Growth Progressive: An Economic Strategy for Shared Prosperity (Simon and Schuster 2006).

Ripple Labs is the developer of Ripple, an Internet protocol that interconnects the world's disparate financial networks to securely transfer funds in any currency in real time. Banks, money transmitters and clearing houses can use Ripple as a settlement technology and alternative to correspondent banking to facilitate straight through processing with no reserve funding required.Earthport, the largest open network for global bank payments, and three banks in the United States and Germany recently announced deployments of Ripple.