Why Ripple's CTO is Promoting XRP Ledger: Three Main Drivers

Ripple CTO David Schwartz, one of the key architects of the XRP Ledger, has stated that he will not leave the XRP community despite his decision to step down from his role as Chief Technology Officer at Ripple at the end of this year. On the contrary, he is increasing his technical contributions and becoming more directly involved in the XRPL ecosystem.

Why David Schwartz is Rebuilding His Own XRPL Infrastructure

In a recent post, Schwartz revealed that his hub is running stably on rippled v2.6.2. This led the community to question why he returned to running his own XRPL infrastructure. Schwartz gave three main reasons:

1. He had not operated any XRPL infrastructure for several years and wanted to reconnect with the system he helped build. This allows him to maintain a practical perspective on the network’s operation.
2. Recently, there has been increased latency between some validators. According to him, a properly designed megahub can help reduce latency, shrink the network diameter, and improve overall system stability.
3. XRPL has recorded some unexpected behaviors in certain regions. To analyze the causes, he needs his own hub to experiment and identify potential technical issues.

Plans to Build a Hub for Validators and the XRPL Ecosystem

This August, Schwartz announced plans to build a dedicated hub for validators in the UNL, other hubs, and servers running XRPL applications. His goal is to operate a single server serving as a production-grade service, offering maximum reliability and near-continuous uptime.

Data from the hub will be used to observe network behavior and analyze performance. Schwartz emphasized that there will be no disruptive testing except in extremely rare cases, ensuring the ecosystem’s stability.

Changing Roles but Not Leaving the XRP Community

In September, Schwartz announced he would step down as CTO to become CTO emeritus, reducing his executive workload to spend more time with his family and on personal projects related to XRP. However, he made it clear that he will not withdraw from the XRP community.

Schwartz continues to run his own node, publish output data, participate in discussions with builders, and explore new use cases for XRP beyond what Ripple is focusing on.

He said his current activities help him rediscover the original joy of technical work: “Building directly, talking with creators, programming for pure passion makes me extremely excited to be back.”

Schwartz’s Influence Remains Significant

Even without a direct executive role, Schwartz’s influence on XRPL remains significant. With his long history from the early days, his analyses, network assessments, and technical experiments continue to shape the development direction of the XRP Ledger.

His active presence is seen as a strong signal that XRPL still maintains a highly experienced technical team and a strong community spirit, especially as the network prepares for multiple upgrades and a new expansion roadmap in the coming year.

Thach Sanh