Bitcoiners Clash with Ripple: The Fallout from the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Controversy

Following Ripple's political activism through its support for Fairshake and lobbying efforts in Washington DC, tensions have escalated within the cryptocurrency community. After Ripple's recent victory in a Donald Trump executive order that deprioritized Bitcoin (BTC) while promoting stablecoins like Ripple USD, Bitcoin advocates have directed their frustrations towards Ripple, accusing it of undermining plans for a US National Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

Pierre Rochard, a prominent Bitcoin maximalist from Riot Platforms, has been at the forefront of this backlash, while Ripple's CTO David Schwartz has defended the company against allegations of centralization of the XRP Ledger (XRPL). The dispute has garnered significant attention, with supporters from both communities rallying to their respective causes.

Rochard has criticized the XRPL, citing a legal notice from Ripple that claims its branding and assets are trademarked. He argues that XRP is a distinct product, unlike commodities such as cotton or water, suggesting that Ripple retains significant control over the XRPL, including the authority to determine which chain maintains the XRP ticker symbol in the event of a hard fork.

Ripple’s Unique Node Lists (UNLs)

Despite the ability for anyone to run an XRP validator, Ripple and its financially tied entities maintain Unique Node Lists (UNLs) that dictate which validators can effectively participate in the network. Rochard highlights that this system raises concerns about the decentralization of the XRPL, arguing that Ripple's control over the UNLs represents a conflict of interest.

For its Initial Coin Offering (ICO), Ripple pre-mined 100 billion XRP coins, with a significant portion allocated to insiders. This ongoing control by Ripple insiders over a large share of the XRP supply is a point of contention compared to Bitcoin's decentralized community.

Ripple has been a proponent of stablecoins, launching its RLUSD stablecoin last month, which has yet to gain traction in the market, currently accounting for less than 0.04% of the stablecoin market. The long-standing rivalry between the Bitcoin and Ripple communities is well-known, with this latest conflict being just another chapter in their ongoing saga.

Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple, has previously invested heavily in campaigns against Bitcoin's proof-of-work mechanism, further intensifying the rivalry between the two factions.

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