Ripple CTO Defends XRP’s Decentralization Amid Community Debate

XRP’s decentralization has sparked renewed debate across the crypto community on X this week. Concerns emerged after users questioned Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s prominent association with XRP, arguing that such a central figure contradicts the asset's decentralized nature. In contrast, Bitcoin is often seen as leaderless, with no individual representing the network.

Addressing the criticism, Ripple CTO David Schwartz clarified the fundamentals of the XRP Ledger. He stated that XRP has no central issuer and that the entire XRP supply was created at the inception of the ledger. Unlike many blockchains that perform ongoing or initial token distributions, Schwartz explained, the XRP Ledger does not distribute tokens and allows anyone to claim as much XRP as they can—highlighting its unique structure.

Schwartz urged the community to rethink the decentralization debate by focusing on outcomes. “Ask yourself what you want to be assured will happen and what you want to be assured won’t happen,” he advised. By identifying desired guarantees, users can better assess whether the system can be compromised or controlled.

The discussion comes as XRP continues to be a top-traded cryptocurrency, often caught between its enterprise backing and broader crypto principles. While Ripple’s role in XRP’s ecosystem remains controversial to some, the CTO’s defense reaffirms the technical architecture’s design to operate independently of any single entity.

As decentralization becomes a defining issue in blockchain governance, XRP’s model continues to provoke debate over what decentralization truly means and how it should be measured in practice.