Ripple’s CTO Emeritus Shuts Down ‘Nonsensical’ Centralization Accusations

David Schwartz, Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and one of the original architects of the XRP Ledger (XRPL), has taken to the X social media network to shut down speculation regarding the network’s perceived centralization. 

“Objectively nonsensical”

As reported by U.Today, Justin Bons, founder of Cyber Capital, posted a scathing thread on X (formerly Twitter), urging the crypto community to “reject all centralized ‘blockchains’.” He has specifically named Ripple, Stellar, Hedera, and Algorand. 

Bons argued that Ripple’s Unique Node List (UNL) makes it possible for the Ripple Foundation to gain “absolute power” and “control” over the chain.

Schwartz was quick to shut down this argument, stating that it was “objectively nonsensical.”

The former Ripple CTO drew a sharp parallel to Bitcoin mining to illustrate the absurdity of the accusation.

“This is as objectively nonsensical as claiming someone with a majority of mining power can create a billion bitcoins,” Schwartz wrote.

Schwartz has also rejected the idea that it would be possible to double-spend or censor transactions. 

“You count the number of validators that agree with your node, and your node will not agree to double-spend or censor unless you, for some reason, want it to,” he said.

Even if validators tried to act maliciously, the network’s design protects honest participants.

He conceded that a conspiracy of validators could theoretically “halt the chain from the point of view of honest nodes.” This is the XRPL equivalent of a dishonest majority attack, but they never get to double-spend.