Former Ripple CTO Shares His Retirement Plans, but There’s a Catch

David Schwartz, who has recently left the position of Ripple’s chief technology officer (CTO) and retired, has addressed the XRP community in his traditional ironic manner and announced his retirement plans.

Notably, Schwartz was one of the co-founders of XRP Ledger, which is now owned by Ripple.

Here’s what Schwartz plans to do during retirement

As 2026 kicked off, Schwartz adjusted his bio on his X account, changing the name of his position at Ripple to “CTO emeritus,” which means “retired.” However, while giving up this position and retiring in general, David Schwartz will join the board of directors at Ripple at the invitation of Chris Larsen, a Ripple co-founder, former CEO and currently its executive chairman. Besides, Schwartz is also an advisor at a crypto treasury company that stacks XRP, Evernorth.

As for his retirement plans, Schwartz ironically stated that he intends to spend his time “thinking about deep and important things.” So far today, he had thought about “strawberry ice cream.”

Ripple has no plans to buy crypto exchange: Monica Long

In other news related to Ripple, on Tuesday, the company’s president, Monica Long, shared with Bloomberg Ripple’s updates on its M&A and growth strategy for 2026.

According to Long, Ripple plans to implement “vertical integration,” i.e., they intend to build “the full stack” of crypto, which would combine blockchain, RLUSD and crypto custody (Palisade).

The president also shared the company’s plans for its acquisition strategy. It will include “focusing on tech to accelerate infrastructure and businesses like GTreasury to bring 1,000+ corporates onto the chain.”

Besides, Monica Long refuted rumors of Ripple’s plans to acquire a crypto exchange that have been circulating in the crypto community. “While exchanges are key partners, Ripple has no plans to buy one,” she stated.