Ripple CTO Denies XRP Price Suppression Accusations, Claims He Would Raise Price If He Could

Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz has affirmed holding XRP, asserting that he would push its price higher if it were possible. The confirmation came as part of a wider discussion within the XRP community, with Schwartz once again refuting claims of deliberately suppressing the price of the cross-border payments token.

XRP Cannot Be “Dirt Cheap”

David Schwartz’s response came after X users revisited a comment made by the Ripple executive back in 2017. At the time, Schwartz contended that the price of the XRP coin could not remain “dirt cheap”, thanks to its utility in international transactions.

He observed that if XRP were worth $1 per coin, a transaction worth $1 million would need 1 million XRP. But, if XRP soared to $1 million a coin, only 1 XRP would be required for the same transaction. The Ripple CTO stressed that higher prices make transactions more cost-efficient.

One crypto community member observed that XRP is still “dirt cheap” seven years later at its current price of $0.594. Responding, Schwartz noted that $1 million worth of XRP still costs $1 million, suggesting that making a $1 million payment with XRP will cost $1 million. In simple terms, the total cost of payments is tied to the amount being transacted, regardless of the fluctuations in XRP’s price.

Ripple’s Schwartz Is An XRP Holder

In the same conversation, another XRP member rekindled the allegation that Ripple may be purposely keeping the price of XRP low, despite the company’s executives repeatedly dismissing the claims over the years. The user going by the online alias Marcelo Wolfarth urged Ripple to stop suppressing the price.

Ripple, being the biggest holder of XRP, is known for unlocking 1 billion XRP from escrow accounts at the beginning of every month. These periodic sales have been pinpointed as the reason for XRP’s relatively stagnant price action.

Schwartz again dismissed these claims, reiterating that he personally owns XRP. In fact, if he actually could propel the price of the Ripple-promoted crypto higher, he would definitely do it.

It’s unclear exactly how many XRP tokens the CTO currently holds, but he revealed earlier that he owned at least 26 million XRP at the peak of his holdings. Moreover, he indicated at the time that he had never sold any of his XRP and used the proceeds to acquire other cryptocurrencies, signifying his strong conviction in the coin’s future value.