Ben Armstrong Denies Holding $80M XRP, Ripple CTO Agrees 

Prominent crypto influencer Ben Armstrong, formerly part of Bitboy Crypto, has taken to X to dispel recent claims that he holds $80 million in XRP amid latest fundraiser.

Recently, a report alleged that Armstrong holds at least $80 million in his XRP portfolio. The report argued that despite Armstrong’s substantial XRP holding, he sought donations from the XRP community to pursue a legal case in which he was entangled.

“This is hilarious,” Armstrong remarked to the claim. He went ahead to provide a detailed account of the situation.

This is hilarious.

1. My CFO, Timothy Shedd, singlehandedly lost $3M in crypto on Celsius. And his son, TJ Shedd, the CEO, refused to fire him. TJ made his dad CFO in spite of having ZERO financial experience. All of our XRP was on Celsius.
2. They stole all my money. https://t.co/uCthpfrWYg

— Ben Armstrong (@BenArmstrongsX) September 22, 2023

Armstrong’s Defence

In the response tweet, Armstrong disclosed his financial entanglement with his former Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Timothy Shedd, alongside the bankrupt crypto lender business, Celsius.

Notably, Shedd is the CFO of HIT Network, the media firm Armstrong worked for. According to Armstrong, Shedd had incurred staggering losses of $3 million in crypto assets on the Celsius platform.

Moreover, he noted that Shedd’s son, TJ Shedd, the CEO of HIT Network, had made his father the CFO despite lacking significant financial experience. The main issue was that the company’s XRP portfolio, including that of Armstrong, was in the custody of the now-defunct platform.

Besides, Armstrong argued that the HIT Network CEO refused to fire his father despite the mismanagement of funds. “They stole all my money,” Armstrong remarked.

Ripple CTO Reacts

Meanwhile, the allegation that Armstrong has 160 million XRP yet sought financial assistance also caught the attention of Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz.

Schwartz remarked that the publication was garbage, lacking any reliability. According to him, the “article is complete nonsense.” This comment comes up despite Schwartz’s periodic tackles at Armstrong on X.

This article is complete nonsense.https://t.co/rPnHrjAnzj

— David "JoelKatz" Schwartz (@JoelKatz) September 22, 2023

Similarly, other XRP community members voiced displeasure with the publication, alleging its poor content. Some individuals claimed it was mere clickbait. 

As they rightly pointed out, the author missed a critical component while analyzing the wallet Armstrong provided for the donations. In particular, the address was an exchange wallet. The crypto influencer had included his unique identifier to the wallet, the destination tag, which the author completely ignored. 

In other words, the $80 million XRP is the amount the exchange wallet holds. Someone suggested that Armstrong’s XRP donation wallet had received just 1,034 XRP from 13 donors.