Speculation Surrounds Ripple CEO’s Remarks on David Schwartz as Satoshi Nakamoto
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has sparked speculation within the crypto community after suggesting that some of the developers responsible for the XRP Ledger (XRPL) may have also been early engineers of the Bitcoin network. Garlinghouse claims that these developers aimed to create a superior digital asset to address scalability and energy consumption issues found in Bitcoin.
Crypto enthusiasts have responded to Garlinghouse’s remarks by speculating that Ripple CTO David Schwartz could be the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. This speculation has been further fueled by prominent figures in the crypto community, including Abdullah “Abs” Nassif, host of the Good Morning Crypto podcast.
One XRP community member, known as wEeZiE (@NerdNationUnbox), had previously suggested in a 2022 post that Schwartz could be one of the four individuals behind the creation of Bitcoin. wEeZiE cites the fact that the development of XRP began shortly after Nakamoto’s last message, and that Schwartz had expressed a desire for something new around the same time. A screenshot from a Forbes article is provided as evidence, which shows Schwartz discussing his plans for the creation of the XRP Ledger. It is worth noting that Schwartz, Arthur Britto, and Jed McCaleb are credited with creating the XRP Ledger.
wEeZiE also highlights similarities between Schwartz and Nakamoto, such as their use of pseudonyms. A short clip is shared in which Schwartz goes by the name “Joel Katz.” Additionally, it is mentioned that Nakamoto shared a pre-released version of the Bitcoin code on Schwartz’s birthday, November 16, 2009.
At present, there is no confirmation regarding the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto or whether Schwartz is indeed the person behind the pseudonym. Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist, has previously claimed to be Nakamoto, but his claims were dismissed by a federal high court earlier this year. Despite this, some members of the Bitcoin community still believe Wright to be Nakamoto. In response to these claims, Schwartz has stated that he is more likely to be Nakamoto than Wright.
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