CTO David Schwartz Reveals His Choice

Ripple CTO David Schwartz disclosed he went for Ripple shares instead of XRP tokens in a recent social media post. The CTO of the payments technology company made this known in a discussion regarding Ripple’s XRP holdings on social media platform X. However, according to him, he is yet to determine if he made the right choice at the time. 

Ripple’s CTO Preference For Ripple Shares

Although his exact holdings weren’t disclosed, Ripple CTO David Schwartz mentioned that he did go for Ripple’s shares as against XRP when was given the choice. However, Schwartz noted that the XRP choice would certainly be more liquid right now, insinuating a better chance of taking profit on XRP tokens than Ripple shares. 

Yes. The jury is still out on whether that was a good decision. The XRP certainly would have been more liquid.

— David “JoelKatz” Schwartz (@JoelKatz) January 8, 2024

Ripple Labs, known for its XRP cryptocurrency, has grown in value in recent years, especially now that it is making headway in its ongoing lawsuit with the SEC. Ripple Labs is currently worth $11.3 billion after recently completing a buyback of $285 million worth of shares from its early investors. 

The revelation was made known in a discussion on social media regarding how Ripple is managing its XRP holdings. As the cryptocurrency’s creator, Ripple Labs currently holds around 46.55 billion XRP tokens, although 41.3 billion tokens are currently locked in escrow with a system in place that allows for the monthly release of 1 billion tokens and the relocking of 800 million tokens. 

This major stake has sparked various concerns about XRP’s centralization by Ripple over the years. Aside from those locked in escrow, Ripple also has 5 billion XRP tokens which it periodically sells. Concerns have been voiced over the potential adverse effect that massive sales like this could have on the market price of XRP. 

XRP is currently trading at $0.5530. Chart: TradingView.com

$142 Million In XRP Sold

Ripple sold 238 million XRP tokens worth $142 million in December 2023, igniting the discussion in question among XRP enthusiasts on social media. A user known as “GPD.Burn the Escrow!” raised a question about the possibility of burning the escrow. In his reply, Schwartz said that this seems highly improbable at the moment since burning the escrow wouldn’t have any benefits.

I can’t think of any set of events that would lead that to happen that’s even remotely probable. I also don’t think it would have any real benefits.

— David “JoelKatz” Schwartz (@JoelKatz) January 8, 2024

The CTO also mentioned that Ripple’s original plan was to reduce its XRP holdings as quickly as it could. The original plan was to use giveaways but this method proved ineffective as XRP started to have a market price. Other methods also proved ineffective, with them being more or less no different from selling XRP.

According to Schwartz, the company has two major options right now, which would be to either continue to hold on to its XRP holdings or sell them.

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