Ripple CTO Supports XRPL as Allegations of XRP Price Manipulation Emerge

Ripple’s CTO, David Schwartz, affirmed the XRP Ledger's (XRPL) importance in global finance, despite allegations of price manipulation surrounding XRP.

Defending a 13-Year Track Record

• Schwartz highlighted XRPL's 13-year history of development and institutional use.
• He noted challenges for new blockchain projects in establishing an ecosystem with developer engagement and liquidity.
• XRPL's design supports both public participation and regulated environments.
• Transaction fees are low and predictable, facilitating payments directly in XRP.
• Schwartz plans to run a personal high-performance XRPL server for validator operations.

Allegations of Price Manipulation Surface

• A validator operator, Grape, reported unusual XRP transactions potentially impacting market value.
• Frequent transfers above 140,000 XRP between exchanges suggest possible wash trading.

On-Chain Metrics Tell a Mixed Story

• XRP's price surged nearly 600% since November, reaching around $3.30.
• Whales recently purchased 320 million XRP tokens over three days.
• Total transactions on XRPL dropped from 2.59 million to 1.59 million, a decline of 38%.
• Payments fell almost 50%, totaling 835,000 transactions.
• XRPL’s total value locked is $90.57 million, with a market cap-to-TVL ratio exceeding 2,200x.

The disparity between XRP's market cap of $190 billion and its total value locked raises concerns about sustainability amid speculation.