Ripple CTO Schwartz Clarifies XRP Origins, Dismisses Fugger Theory
In brief
- David Schwartz refuted claims that Ryan Fugger created XRP or influenced the token's development.
- Fugger's 2004 RipplePay was a trust-based payment system with no blockchain or digital assets.
- Ripple's team built the XRP Ledger and token from scratch in 2012 after acquiring RipplePay.
The RipplePay Confusion
Fugger launched the RipplePay project in 2004, five years before Bitcoin appeared. This early timing has fueled speculation that Fugger somehow originated XRP. But the reality is simpler than the theories suggest. Fugger's original 2004 project was an ordinary payment system based on mutual trust between users, where there was no blockchain and no digital coins. It was a peer-to-peer settlement layer for trust relationships, not a tokenized ledger.
The 2012 Acquisition and Rebuild
Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb acquired the RipplePay platform from Fugger in 2012. What happened next matters: The OpenCoin team, later known as Ripple Labs, replaced the technical core of RipplePay entirely. They kept the name and brand. Engineers Jed McCaleb, Arthur Britto and David Schwartz then wrote the code from scratch, creating the XRPL ledger and the XRP token.
Schwartz's own background has also drawn scrutiny. David Schwartz filed patents for distributed computing in 1988–1991. Some observers have tried to connect these early patents to XRP's architecture. Schwartz isn't having it. Schwartz stated that his archival developments from the late 1980s are technologically outdated and have nothing to do with the modern architecture of the XRP Ledger.
Ending the Speculation
The core issue is one of narrative fit. People want to find hidden origins. They want to connect dots across decades. But Schwartz's position is clear: there are no hidden dots to connect.
"Fugger's original 2004 project was an ordinary payment system based on mutual trust between users, where there was no blockchain and no digital coins." — David Schwartz, Ripple CTO Emeritus
Schwartz emphasized that attempts to connect his patents or Fugger's old project with XRP's creation are efforts to fit facts into attractive theories. The timeline is unambiguous: Fugger built a trust network in 2004. Ripple acquired the brand in 2012 and rebuilt everything from the ground up. XRP didn't exist until Schwartz, McCaleb, and Britto wrote it.
