David Schwartz clarifies XRP’s true origins

David Schwartz clarified that Ryan Fugger did not create XRP. XRP and its ledger were developed from scratch in 2012, years after Bitcoin, and are unrelated to Fugger’s earlier RipplePay project.

David Schwartz has clarified persistent confusion about the origins of XRP, stating that Canadian developer Ryan Fugger did not create the XRP token. The misconception arises from Fugger’s RipplePay project, launched in 2004, which was a trust-based payment system and did not use blockchain technology or digital assets. Schwartz explained that the real history of XRP began in 2012, after Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb acquired RipplePay. This new team, later known as OpenCoin and then Ripple Labs, developed the XRP Ledger and XRP token from the ground up, keeping only the Ripple brand name from Fugger’s original project. He also dismissed claims that XRP existed before Bitcoin, noting that Bitcoin launched in 2009, while XRP and its ledger were created in 2012. Schwartz emphasized that attributing XRP’s creation to Fugger is not supported by technical or historical facts.