Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz called Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) a “technological dead end” comparable to the dollar as XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) is consolidating after a V-shaped recovery from $1.15 lows.
The ‘Dead End’ Argument
Schwartz on Thursday on X responded to a user asking if he’d considered working on Bitcoin again after co-creating the XRP Ledger.
“Not really. I think Bitcoin is largely a technological dead end for the same reason the dollar is,” he wrote.
Schwartz argued Bitcoin’s success doesn’t depend on blockchain innovation. “The technology just doesn’t seem to matter all that much to its success, at least not at the blockchain layer.”
He explained the core function investors care about isn’t new features but the simple expectation that Bitcoin remains usable and transferable in the future.
“For 99% of what makes Bitcoin interesting, all the blockchain needs to be able to do is allow people to rely on being able to hold and transfer Bitcoin in the future,” he said.
However, he acknowledged one exception: Bitcoin will eventually need a “fork to be quantum proof.” Without quantum-resistant upgrades, “Bitcoin will collapse.”
The Centralization Debate
The comments emerged from a broader debate about XRP Ledger’s genesis.
Bitcoin advocate Bram Kanstein claimed XRP’s “missing” early history proves centralization—the ledger starts at block 32,570, not block 1.
Schwartz countered that Bitcoin experienced “at least two incidents that showed way more centralization,” specifically referencing the coordinated 2010 rollback after the value overflow bug.
The value overflow bug created 184 billion Bitcoin in August 2010. Bitcoin’s stakeholders actively intervened to fix the critical bug, rolling back the blockchain—an example of centralized coordination that critics cite to prove Bitcoin’s immutability relies on human intervention.
On XRP’s genesis, Schwartz argued the decision was “not to make any coordinated changes and just live with it” when Ledgers 1-32,569 were lost due to a software bug in June 2012.
The Technical Setup
XRP is consolidating after recovering from the $1.15 capitulation low.
The Supertrend at $1.2989 flipped green below price for the first time since the decline began—a bullish development suggesting near-term momentum shifted to buyers.
The price sits just below the middle Bollinger Band at $1.3782, which acts as immediate resistance.
Immediate support is the Supertrend at $1.2989, with secondary support at $1.20-$1.25.
For bulls, XRP needs to break and hold above $1.40, then push through the upper Bollinger Band at $1.4408.
Resistance stacks at $1.40, $1.45-$1.50, and the descending trendline from $2.5 peaks.
Image: Shutterstock
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