Top Solana Foundation Exec Praises the Uniqueness of XRP

Vibhu Norby, the head of product marketing at the Solana Foundation, has retracted his earlier criticism of the XRP ecosystem.

Widely known as Vibhu, the Solana Foundation exec got involved in a heated debate with the XRP community in early November over the coin’s current use case. However, in a December 12 tweet, he appeared repentant, stating that he has come to understand the outstanding nature of XRP and its community.

XRP’s Distinction Converts Solana Exec

For the uninitiated, Vibhu took to X on November 1 to question the XRP community’s touch with reality. While he started by claiming he wants Ripple and XRP to thrive, he suggested that its proponents are obviously living in the future rather than facing the present-day facts about the XRP Ledger’s adoption.

Among his highlighted metrics, showing that the XRPL has “been extremely mediocre” in comparison to Solana is the active daily accounts. He drew data from XRPScan and Blockworks, indicating that Solana has 100x more daily users than the Ledger.

Vibhu also identified other metrics, such as total daily transactions and transfer volume, where XRP lags compared to Solana. He even urged XRP investors to reconsider their holdings and challenged proponents to a “fact-only” debate.

However, his tone looked completely different today. He noted that through learning from public discussions and meetings with core members and the Ripple team, he now sees XRP differently.

Vibhu outlined his better understanding of XRP as an asset and its ever-vibrant community, a retraction from his November 1 disposition. Remarkably, the Solana product marketing head has become the latest XRP critic to convert into an admirer of the ecosystem.

XRP Coming to Solana

Notably, the tweet came after the announcement that XRP is coming to Solana. Vibhu explained that this meant Solana is building a cross-chain bridge to bring deep liquidity to XRP.

With the rollout, XRP holders can maintain their holdings in the XRP Ledger and unlock a wrapped version of the asset for DeFi activities on Solana. With the wrapped XRP (wXRP), users can earn yields by lending their assets, buy stocks, RWAs, and yield-bearing tokens, while also exploring other features of the Solana ecosystem without the need for exchanges.

Remarkably, events leading up to this announcement had hinted at this development. Solana posted the “589” figure earlier this week, achieving its highest X engagement to date with over 6 million views. The official X account also shared another cryptic tweet a day later with the caption “time to flip the switch,” featuring a long-standing XRP meme.