Ripple CTO Clarifies XRPL’s Purpose: Adoption, Not Speculation, Drives XRP Value
Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz, has clarified misconceptions about the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and its relationship with the price of XRP. Schwartz emphasized that the XRPL was not created to inflate XRP’s value. Instead, its primary goal is to provide a fast, secure, and low-cost payment network.
According to Schwartz, XRP gains value naturally through broader adoption and usage of the XRPL. He explained that the digital asset’s independence from governments and companies is a key feature, helping maintain a neutral and open global payment system.
“Broader adoption of the XRPL naturally strengthens XRP’s value,” Schwartz stated. He highlighted that XRP exists independently on the ledger, with no counterparty involved. This autonomy allows XRP to hold a “privileged place” within the XRPL, acting as an automatic bridge between different assets. As a result, XRPL facilitates increased liquidity and enables efficient cross-asset transfers.
Schwartz also pointed out that XRP’s value is closely linked to its stability, reliability, and real-world utility. These characteristics take precedence over short-term speculative gains. XRP’s strength lies in its scarcity, fungibility, and resistance to censorship, which make it easy to store and transfer across the XRPL. These qualities provide genuine practical utility for global payments, attracting users who prioritize speed and security.
“We did not build the XRPL to make XRP’s price rise,” Schwartz reiterated, underscoring Ripple’s focus on creating a fast and secure transaction infrastructure.
Community Debate Sparks Clarification
This clarification arose after intense community debate, prompted by the recent Balancer hack that drained over $120 million from the Ethereum-based protocol. The exploit raised concerns regarding the vulnerability of third-party smart contracts. An XRP community member, xmoonkie, argued that the XRPL avoids such risks by relying on native features instead of external contracts.
Another supporter, Dondropit, pointed to Schwartz’s previous statements about the network’s fee neutrality, noting that the XRPL is designed to prevent any participant from profiting from transaction fees.
However, critics have argued that Ripple’s founders benefited from XRP’s premine and suggested that XRPL validators function as intermediaries, similar to Bitcoin miners. Schwartz countered these claims by explaining that validators on the XRPL do not earn user payments. Their primary role is to order transactions and prevent double spending, working collaboratively rather than competitively. This framework ensures network integrity without introducing intermediaries.
Schwartz concluded by affirming that the XRPL’s foundation remains rooted in performance, transparency, and global accessibility—not speculative price gains. The ledger is designed to deliver efficient and consistent access to global payments, with reliability and utility at its core.
https://coincentral.com/xrpl-built-for-efficiency-not-price-speculation-says-ripples-cto/
