“I Wish Ripple Had Given Away More XRP,” CEO Says, and Here’s Why

David Schwartz, Ripple’s chief technology officer and one of the architects of the XRP Ledger, shared some new thoughts on XRP supply. The blockchain figure’s thoughts were prompted by a discussion about cryptocurrency inflation and the recent airdrop of Flare Network’s token, FLR.

What is the situation with Ripple and XRP supply?
During a discussion about the subject, Schwartz expressed regret that Ripple did not distribute more tokens when the XRP price was low. According to him, the large influx of tokens into the market now that the XRP price is already at $0.4 makes things much more difficult.

But, as I’ve previously stated, I wish Ripple had given away more XRP when it was nearly worthless. As the value rises, everything becomes more difficult.

January 21, 2023 — David “JoelKatz” Schwartz (@JoelKatz)
A particular issue is that this would be taxed on ordinary income for US recipients, forcing them to sell approximately half of the tokens when they receive them. This is one of the reasons why all tokens should be released into the market while the price is at its lowest, according to Schwartz.

Previously, Mat Hamilton, Ripple’s former director of developer relations, explained how Ripple ended up with 80% of XRP’s $100 billion offering in its accounts. According to U.Today, citing Hamilton, the XRPL architects took that volume from the open genesis wallet and gave it to Ripple to build a commercial project based on the ecosystem.

According to the XRP Ledger Services portal, Ripple currently has 43.4 billion XRP in its accounts.