๐ A 2014 email is now going viral in the XRP communityโrevealing that Rippleโs idea may have started back in 2004, four years before Bitcoin even appeared.
This shocking revelation is shaking up the debate over who really planted the first seed of digital money.
๐ง Ripple Started With an Idea, Not a Blockchain
Before crypto even existed, Ryan Fugger built a system called RipplePay in 2004.
It let users send value peer-to-peer, without using banks.
Later, in 2012, Ripple became a crypto project when Chris Larsen and others helped evolve it into what we now know as Ripple/XRP.
Journalist Reutzel Bailey explains this clearly in a resurfaced email thread, saying the idea was โreframedโ during the Bitcoin hype wave. According to him, Larsen presented Ripple as a crypto project to ride the trend.
๐ซ Ripple Didnโt Copy Bitcoin
Many still think Ripple just copied Bitcoinโbut thatโs not true.
Tech insider Jeffrey Cliff wrote, โRipple predates Bitcoin.โ
And even though XRP launched in 2012, the idea behind Ripple was already alive in 2004.
So yes, Bitcoin is the first true cryptocurrency, but Ripple was already working on decentralized finance long before.
๐ ๏ธ XRP Ledger Was Built to Fix Bitcoinโs Flaws
In 2011, developers David Schwartz, Arthur Britto, and Jed McCaleb started building the XRP Ledgerโa faster, greener version of Bitcoin.
They didnโt use Bitcoinโs energy-heavy proof-of-work. Instead, XRP focused on speed and efficiency.
By 2012, the project launched under the name โOpenCoin,โ then rebranded to Ripple, and gave 80 billion XRP to the company.
Jed McCaleb later left Ripple and co-founded Stellar (XLM).
๐ Rippleโs Role in Crypto Is Bigger Than We Thought
This rediscovered info shows that Ripple wasnโt just another Bitcoin follower.
It was one of the earliest attempts to rethink money and move value digitally.
As Ripple pushes forward with global payment solutions, this 2004 origin story gives the project a deeper legacyโand might just change how we talk about cryptoโs true beginnings.