Ripple's David Schwartz would unretire only for Nik Bougalis
In brief
- David Schwartz retired January 1, 2026, after 13 years as Ripple CTO and XRP Ledger architect.
- Schwartz named Nik Bougalis as the only reason he'd consider unretiring from his CTO Emeritus role.
- Bougalis left Ripple in 2022 and became Algorand Foundation CTO at end of 2025.
- Bougalis was Ripple's eighth employee and led the core engineering team building XRP Ledger.
- Bougalis holds three fundamental cryptography patents credited to Ripple.
The Unretiring Condition
Schwartz made the admission in a recent statement, saying: "The one thing that could almost make me think seriously about unretiring would be getting to work with @nbougalis again." Bougalis, who left Ripple in 2022, took over the technology division as CTO of the Algorand Foundation at the end of 2025.
Why Bougalis Matters
Bougalis wasn't just any Ripple engineer. As only the eighth employee on staff, he spent nearly a decade leading the key engineering team that literally assembled the XRP Ledger core code. He's also credited with three fundamental company patents in advanced cryptography. That depth of expertise and shared history makes him, in Schwartz's view, irreplaceable.
Schwartz's New Role
Though retired from daily operations, Schwartz hasn't fully stepped away. He now advises Ripple selectively as CTO Emeritus and assists with releases such as the June XRPL 3.2.0 update. This arrangement lets him stay connected to the ledger he architected without the full weight of operational leadership.
The comment speaks to both the rarity of the engineering talent at Ripple's founding and the personal bonds forged during the company's early years. Bougalis now shapes the future of Algorand's protocol layer—a significant role in its own right.
