David Schwartz, one of the original architects of the XRP Ledger, says the network’s long-term health depends on bringing in more independent players, so that it does not end up serving Ripple alone.
Speaking in an interview marking Evernorth’s Nasdaq debut, Ripple’s CTO Emeritus said new participants such as the XRP treasury company help guard against a risk that even well-meaning builders face. Schwartz is a strategic adviser to Evernorth and sits on its board.
What to know:
- Schwartz says more voices are needed in XRP Ledger governance so the network is not seen as “a tool to serve Ripple’s interests only.”
- He sees no significant technical gaps holding back banks or asset managers.
- The real obstacles are liquidity, on- and off-ramps, and connecting the ledger to existing financial systems.
A governance warning from the ledger’s co-creator
Schwartz said most of the XRP Ledger’s technical problems are solved. The harder question now is whose needs the ledger should serve.
“You can build a blockchain that does one thing, or you can build a blockchain that does something else,” he said. Figuring out which problems to aim it at is the challenge.
That is where a single dominant player can go wrong. “Even if you have the best intent, it’s very easy to convince yourself that what’s good for you is what’s good for everyone,” he said.
Schwartz said Evernorth’s plan to run validators and take part in the ledger’s development adds needed diversity. That matters, he said, for people’s ability to adopt the XRP Ledger “and be confident that it’s not going to become a tool to serve, like, Ripple’s interests only.”
“Going to the moon is a solved problem”
Schwartz used a space analogy to describe where the XRP Ledger stands. Humans reached the moon more than 50 years ago, he noted, so the technology is proven. But actually going there today would still be hard.
“Being fantastic technically is not sufficient to be useful in the real world,” he said.
He pointed to liquidity provision and on- and off-ramps as the areas that will do the most for the ledger, and also the ones that carry the most risk. Regulation was once a major barrier, but he said those “headwinds have turned into tailwinds.”
Lending is live, but DeFi is not yet connected
Native lending is already live on the XRP Ledger, Schwartz said. What is missing is integration with the wider DeFi ecosystem.
Most activity today centres on tokenizing real-world assets, which he called “a necessary piece of plumbing.” The next step is letting people move money in and out of those assets, borrow and manage their holdings. “People need to be able to borrow money. They need to have sensible investments,” he said.
He added that holding XRP on a corporate balance sheet is “very challenging” without a listed vehicle like Evernorth.
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