David Schwartz, Chief Technology Officer of Ripple, responded on the X platform to doubts regarding the possible existence of an issuer for XRP. Although XRP is considered decentralized, Ripple Labs, as the primary holder, has raised debates about decentralization due to its influence. Schwartz emphasized that XRP has no issuer; all XRP tokens were created at the launch of the Ripple ledger. The XRPL, as a decentralized public blockchain ledger, does not support the distribution of XRP, only allowing withdrawal. Schwartz also urged followers to clarify their concerns about decentralization to more effectively assess the system's degree of decentralization. While he did not explicitly state whether the Ripple network is centralized or decentralized, the mention of the leadership team indicates it is not fully decentralized.

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David Schwartz, Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer, has taken to X to address concerns aboutXRP, the company’s native coin, having a possible issuer.While XRP is considered decentralized,Ripple Labsis a major holder of XRP; as such, the network’s influence has sparked a longstanding debate on decentralization.One X user quizzed the Ripple CTO on why Brad Garlinghouse, the digital payment network’s chief executive officer, was the face of XRP and Ripple.In response, Schwartz asserted that although Garlinghouse holds the position of the firm’s CEO, its native coin XRP has no issuer. He added that all existing XRP tokens were created at the same time as the launch of the Ripple ledger.He further explained that XRPL, the decentralized public blockchain ledger, also known as the Ripple protocol, was not designed to foster network rivalry and that the ledger, which cannot allow for XRP distributions, only enables XRP withdrawals.“Garlinghouse is the CEO of Ripple, a company. XRP has no issuer — all the XRP that will ever exist was created when the ledger was created.” He asserted, adding that “Unlike most other blockchains, XRPL has no rivalrous features, so the ledger itself can’t really do the initial distribution beyond letting anyone who wants to take as much XRP as they want.”The Ripple official tackled transparency concerns and urged the critics to interrogate their need for decentralization.He asked concerned users to highlight their worries and outline the measures to prevent these potential security risks. “That will allow you to think usefully about how decentralized something is without getting bogged down in definitions.” Heconcluded.While the Ripple CTO did not directly state that the Ripple network was centralized or decentralized, his notation of the presence of an identifiable leadership team does not convey that centralized governance is in play.

Ripple CTO David Schwartz clarifies controversies regarding XRP's lack of issuer and decentralization