David Schwartz Says “Ripple Was Created to Distribute XRP as Broadly as Possible”

Schwartz corrects a misconception about Ripple’s primary objective.

David Schwartz, CTO at Ripple, has taken to Twitter to debunk a misconception regarding the Silicon Valley-based blockchain company.

A Twitter user known as “Scams are bad” quoted an old tweet, saying, “XRP was created to sell to retail.” In response to the comment, a blockchain enthusiast named Azrael asserted that “Ripple was created to sell XRP to retail.” The user added that Ripple’s co-founder Jed McCaleb left the company because of how XRP was sold to retail investors.

IMO, Ripple was created to sell XRP to retail. I am not sure if you and Tiffany are saying this in combat of the phrase "XRP was never for retail". But there was an obvious disagreement regarding XRP being sold to retail, the way it was. So Jed left.https://t.co/CG6fGdYvC3

— Azrael – DG – PwntNub (@pwntnub) April 19, 2023

Ripple CTO Debunks the Misconception

Commenting on the development, Schwartz quickly corrected the misconception to prevent it from spreading like wildfire. He clarified that Ripple was created to distribute XRP as broadly as possible and generate enough revenue from the coin’s sales to sustain its operations.

At least in my view, Ripple was created to distribute XRP as broadly as possible and, with luck and if necessary, be able to generate enough revenue from sales (or things like sales) of XRP to sustain its operations.

— David "JoelKatz" Schwartz (@JoelKatz) April 19, 2023

There has been a growing misconception about Ripple’s XRP sales recently. As reported earlier, a Twitter user asserted that the leading blockchain actively sells XRP and that these sales account for 98% of the company’s revenue.

Responding to this so-called “fact,” Schwartz confirmed the claim as accurate only in the broader definition of “sell.”

Even though XRP sales account for most of Ripple’s revenue, the company is limited to only two options regarding its XRP holdings- to sell or hold the coins, Schwartz said.

The Ripple CTO added that most people complain that the company “holds too much [XRP].”

Since Ripple holds an enormous amount of XRP and controls its issuance, many believe the cryptocurrency is more centralized than other coins like Bitcoin.

Interestingly, Ripple is making significant efforts to dispel these claims by offloading many of its XRP holdings over the past months.

To further illustrate Ripple’s XRP sales, the blockchain company sold $226.31 million worth of XRP in Q4 2022. It also sold $310.68 million worth of the coin in the previous quarter.

In Ripple’s third-quarter earnings report, the blockchain company showed that its XRP holding dropped below 50 billion or 50% of the total supply.

Notably, Ripple’s XRP sales are made to cater to users of its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL), a solution that leverages cryptocurrency for cross-border settlements and payments.