Ripple's CTO Clarifies Allegations on XRP Sales Transparency

Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) David Schwartz has responded to concerns surrounding the transparency of Ripple’s XRP sales. The debate ensued after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requested Ripple to disclose its financial data prompting speculations about the company’s sales strategy adjustments to comply with regulations. The growing community concerns regarding the state of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) have also added to the debate.

The EVM is why they didn't want hooks. EVM allows Ripple to wrap its XRP and sell it blindly – something they couldn't do with native smart contract functionality…

Why is there so much silence on their EVM now?

Heard of anyone willing to run witness servers?

Me neither.
— onledger.net (@offledger) March 20, 2024

There have been concerns expressed by community members regarding the XRPL’s lack of financial backing and on-chain support for validators. The team behind the XRP Ledger project Onledger believes Ripple is responsible for this situation. Onledger further alleged that Ripple’s proposed EVM sidechain is a ploy to obfuscate future XRP sales.

They claimed Ripple intends to wrap XRP tokens and sell them on this sidechain without public scrutiny. XRP currently lacks smart contract functionality which Onledger suggested hinders transparency in Ripple’s sales strategy.

However, Schwartz dismissed these claims arguing that Ripple could easily sell XRP on exchanges with less transparency than on-chain transactions. While exchanges would be aware of Ripple’s involvement, public knowledge wouldn’t be guaranteed.

Schwartz categorically denied allegations suggesting Ripple’s intention to conceal its XRP sales from the public. He pointed out that Ripple could easily execute XRP sales on exchanges with lower transparency requirements thus obviating the need for complex schemes.

Community dissatisfaction with the current state of the XRPL gained momentum following the decision by XPUNKS which is an XRP Ledger-based Non-Fungible Token (NFT) project to migrate to the Solana blockchain. Onledger echoed these sentiments attributing some of the XRPL’s challenges to Ripple.

Ripple’s sales activities have always been transparent with most transactions tracked through on-chain data. Schwartz reaffirmed the company’s commitment to transparency emphasizing the quarterly disclosure of XRP sales. However, the crux of the debate remains in Ripple’s approach to XRP sales amidst regulatory scrutiny and community apprehensions.

While allegations of clandestine sales swirl, Schwartz’s assertions aim to dispel misconceptions surrounding Ripple’s transparency practices. As the dialogue continues, the spotlight remains on Ripple’s actions and their implications for the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem.