In a recent development that has sparked considerable outrage within the XRP Ledger (XRPL) developer community, Ripple is under fire for altering a podcast clip. The edited segment was part of Ripple’s new podcast series titled “Exploring Ripple’s New Stablecoin Ripple USD (RLUSD)”, featuring CTO David Schwartz and Ripple President Monica Long discussing the upcoming launch of the stablecoin and various aspects of the XRP Ledger ecosystem.
The controversy centers around a specific modification to a statement made by Monica Long. In the original podcast, Long noted the momentum of developer engagement on the XRP Ledger, stating, “We’ve put all of that effort in and ultimately it’s a bit chicken in the egg to get developer momentum on the XRP Ledger which we are seeing, there are already thousands of developers building projects, but to really see that flywheel pick up more momentum you need to have high quality assets in particular right now does need onramps and offramps that are reliable and efficient so that’s mostly been in the form of stablecoins.” However, in the altered version posted on YouTube, the phrase “there are already thousands of developers building projects” was conspicuously absent.
XRP Ledger Devs Furious About Ripple
Daniel “No” Keller, CTO of Eminence and an XRPL Ambassador, was among the first to voice his dismay. Through a tweet directed at Schwartz and Long, Keller expressed his confusion and disappointment: “Hey David Schwartz and Monica Long! Why would you upload a podcast clip and then take it down to re-upload an altered version? What happened to the ‘thousands of developers’ bit? Ripple and @RippleX have failed the community. Why keep pretending everything is okay?”
Keller’s frustration reflects a broader sentiment within the dev community, where developers feel increasingly sidelined and underappreciated by Ripple’s corporate decisions. Keller said, “Why keep pretending everything is okay? Neither your “stable” nor the lame attempt to push “Defi on the XRPL” will go anywhere […] It’s time to be honest. It’s the community that pushed you through hard times.
Keller’s statement underscores a growing rift between Ripple and the XRPL developer community. The Eminence CTO added, “We could fix the ecosystem in a blink of an eye. But I assume no one on YOUR END is interested in doing so. You could fix the ledger, but your choice has been not to do it. For whatever reason…”
His comments have resonated within the XRPL community, with many feeling disillusioned about Ripple’s commitment to transparency and community engagement. Stephen Chip, co-founder of onthechain.io criticized Ripple for its lack of focus on supporting its developer ecosystem.
“Many of us have been left in the dark when it comes to grant funding. At this point, we know more people who have been rejected for grants than those who have received them, myself included. While it’s great that you’ve started the Japan-Korea fund, it’s important to deliver on your original promise of grant support.” Chip remarked.
Conversely, community member and dUNL validator Vet (@Vet_X0) defended Ripple and suggested that the edit might have been made due to internal knowledge at Ripple correcting a possible overstatement: “Regarding the edited podcast, imo it shows that there are people at Ripple and RippleX who know the ecosystem very well and corrected it. That’s the only logical answer for me why one would edit it, else no one would have, only after people talked about it publicly.”
At press time, XRP traded at $0.4558
Featured image created with DALL·E, chart from TradingView.com
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