One Project Man? Ripple CTO Clarifies Where His Loyalty Lays

Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), David Schwartz, has been addressing some misconceptions and speculations about him. This week, the CTO was questioned about his wealth and billionaire status over NBA game seats.

Now, the crypto community wonders about Schwartz’s relevancy at Ripple and whether he is loyal to his employer or the technology he has helped develop.

Who Is David Schwartz Loyal To?

After clarifying the misconception that he is a billionaire, Schwartz received more speculative comments and criticism over his role at Ripple Labs and where his loyalty is.

An X user stated that the CTO is “just an employee of Ripple Labs.” The user added, “His allegiance is to Ripple, not the XRPL nor XRP…” Schwartz took notice of the post and explained to whom he is loyal and why.

The response details how Ripple’s co-founder Chris Larsen approached Schwartz and asked him to join the board. Larsen wanted the CTO on the team because he considered Schwartz loyal.

At the time, Schwartz interpreted Larsen’s statement as loyal to the former CEO and replied that he “would be loyal to him so long as I felt he was the right guy to run Ripple.” He further stated that he pledged to be loyal to his employer.

Nonetheless, the CTO went into more detail about his concept of loyalty. To him, loyalty must be earned, and he is loyal to what he thinks deserves it.

Schwartz claims this belief translates to his personal life, as he doesn’t want people’s loyalty if they don’t consider he deserves it. As such, he deems that even his harshest critics would admit it:

In fact, many of them criticize me for exactly this, though usually without realizing that’s what they’re doing.

Ripple’s CTO believes that the project still deserves his loyalty but assures that he would stop working for them if it didn’t, although he “might not publicly condemn them out of self-interest.”

It’s worth noting that his reply was not without criticism. Some remarked on the lack of mention of XRP Ledger, considering it to prove the original post’s point.

Is Schwartz Ripple’s Steve Wozniak?

The user who initially questioned him also expressed that Schwartz is to Ripple what Steve Wozniak was to Apple and Steve Jobs. The comment sparked a discussion in the replies as other community members disagreed.

One user stated that Ripple’s CTO is “a lot more than that,” highlighting his contributions to developing blockchain technology and XRP Ledger.

Another user stated, “Utter misunderstanding of a great man’s life’s work.” The original critic questioned why Schwartz needs Ripple “If he is the grand architect of blockchain?”

If I was the one of the satoshi nakamotos… or a blockchain developer… I would believe in myself enough to be my own boss and not a corporate employee…

— 𝙈𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙈𝙖𝙣 𝙓 ™ (@MetaMan_X) April 18, 2024

In his reply, the CTO appears to have addressed this speculation, as he affirmed that he’ll stop working at the company when it’s no longer fun:

But I don’t need to keep working at Ripple, and as soon as it’s not fun, I’ll stop. And I don’t need to publicly say things I don’t believe. I’ve tried to avoid that trap my whole life.

As someone pointed out in the comments, being the boss requires one to deal with a project’s corporate and administrative duties, which might not suit every person. “Some folks are passionate about being the boss. Others just wanna code & focus on R&D (doing the “cool shit”). Comes down to personality & one’s stage of life,” the user stated.

XRP's performance in the one-week chart. Source: XRPUSDT on TradingView

Featured Image from Pexel.com, Chart from TradingView.com