In a recent development that has sparked a major outcry within the XRP Ledger (XRPL) developer community, Ripple has come under fire for editing a podcast segment. The edited segment was part of Ripple’s new podcast series titled “Exploring Ripple’s New Stablecoin Ripple USD (RLUSD),” which featured CTO David Schwartz and Ripple President Monica Long discussing the upcoming launch of the stablecoin and various aspects of the XRP Ledger ecosystem.
The controversy revolves around a specific edit to a statement made by Monica Long. In the original podcast, Long referred to the developer engagement momentum on XRP Ledger, saying: “We put all this effort into it and it was ultimately a chicken in the egg to get the developer engagement momentum on XRP Ledger that we see, there are literally thousands of developers building projects, but to really see that momentum gain more traction, you need high-quality assets in particular now, you need reliable and efficient upside and downside ramps, so that has mostly been in the form of stablecoins.” However, in the edited version posted to YouTube, the phrase “there are literally thousands of developers building projects” was noticeably absent.
XRP Ledger Developers Are Angry At Ripple
Daniel “No” Keller, CTO of Eminence and XRPL Ambassador, was among the first to voice Keller expressed his confusion and disappointment in a tweet directed at Schwartz and Long: “Hey David Schwartz and Monica Long! Why would you upload a podcast and then delete it to re-upload a modified version? What happened to the “thousands of developers” part? Ripple and @RippleX have failed the community. Why do you continue to pretend that everything is fine?”
Keller’s frustration reflects broader sentiments within the developer community, where developers increasingly feel marginalized and unappreciated by Ripple’s decisions. “Why do you keep pretending that everything is okay? Your ‘stable’ or lame attempt to push ‘Defi on XRPL’ is going nowhere,” Keller said. “It’s time to be honest. It’s the community that has pushed you through the tough times.”
Keller’s statement underscores the growing rift between Ripple and the XRPL developer community. “We could fix the ecosystem in the blink of an eye,” Eminence’s CTO added. “But I assume no one on your side is interested in doing that. You could fix the record, but you chose not to. For whatever reason…”
His comments resonated within the XRPL community, where many were disappointed with Ripple’s commitment to transparency and community engagement. Stephen Shipp, co-founder of onthechain.io Criticize Ripple due to its lack of focus on supporting the developer ecosystem.
“So many of us have been left in the dark when it comes to grant funding. At this point, we know of more people who have been denied grants than who have received them, including myself. While it is great that you started the Japan-Korea Fund, it is important that you fulfill your original promise of grant support,” Chip said.
Conversely, community member and dUNL validator Vet (@Vet_X0) defended Ripple and suggested that the edit may have been made due to internal knowledge at Ripple to correct a possible exaggeration: “Regarding the edited podcast, in my opinion, it shows that there are people at Ripple and RippleX who know the ecosystem very well and corrected it. That’s the only logical answer to me as to why someone would edit it, otherwise no one would, only after people talked about it publicly.”
At the time of publication, XRP was trading at $0.4558.
Featured image created using DALL E, chart from TradingView.com