Yesterday, the crypto community was stunned when it recorded large money transfer transactions from Satoshi Nakamoto's 'whale' wallet, sparking a wave of speculation and curiosity about the connection between the founder of Bitcoin and XRP. Notably, a court document was publicly released online, in which David Schwartz, CTO of Ripple, claimed that 'Satoshi may have held a significant amount of XRP.' This statement not only attracted strong attention from the community but also opened up new speculations about the potential relationship between these two revolutionary cryptocurrencies, igniting unverified hypotheses about the founder of Bitcoin and his connection to XRP.
David Schwartz's contradictory statement
The question that David Schwartz recently answered has caused many to ponder: 'You also said, 'we control a large amount of XRP', does that make XRP different from Bitcoin?' To explain, Schwartz argued that at the beginning, determining exactly how Bitcoin was distributed was extremely difficult. Therefore, he does not rule out the possibility that the founder of Bitcoin – Satoshi Nakamoto – may have held 'a lot of XRP' in the early days of the cryptocurrency market.
While this is a controversial statement, it has sparked a wave of strong speculation among investors and experts. Schwartz's response, especially when he mentioned the year 2017, has left the cryptocurrency community even more perplexed and curious. This curiosity was heightened when Tiffany Hayden, a prominent X user, sarcastically asked, 'How much XRP does Satoshi hold? Are you really saying this without anyone noticing?' Schwartz's response, 'What is the question?', has further excited the community and filled it with delight.
However, an undeniable fact is that Satoshi Nakamoto completely disappeared from the cryptocurrency market from 2010 to 2011. Since then, there has been no sign that his wallet continues to operate, nor any involvement in XRP. Furthermore, Schwartz's claim that Satoshi 'may' have held XRP is actually lacking any verifiable evidence, making it merely an unproven hypothesis.
Throughout the time, Schwartz has also become one of the names rumored to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious founder of Bitcoin. However, Schwartz has repeatedly asserted that he only joined the Bitcoin community in 2011, which is after the Bitcoin white paper was released in 2008 and the network officially launched in 2009. This clarifies that, although Schwartz was one of the first to engage in both the Bitcoin and Ripple communities, he cannot be the founder of Bitcoin.
XRP: Could this be Satoshi's vision?
XRP has long been seen as a formidable competitor to Bitcoin, particularly in addressing issues that Bitcoin has yet to tackle, such as high transaction fees, slow transaction speeds, and the centralization of the network. Previously, a prominent post from John Squire claimed that XRP is the closest product to Satoshi Nakamoto's original vision. XRP investors believe that this currency has resolved fundamental issues that Bitcoin cannot handle, making XRP a heavyweight contender in the cryptocurrency race.
Another influential voice in the XRP community, Alex Cobb, has also expressed the view that Satoshi Nakamoto may have contributed to the emergence of XRP. Cobb cites one of Satoshi's famous last messages on April 23, 2011, in which Satoshi wrote, 'I have moved on to other things.' Many in the community believe this statement may refer to XRP, a project that was launched just a year later.
Although there is no verifiable evidence yet, many in the cryptocurrency community believe that the founders of Ripple, including David Schwartz, may have been involved with Bitcoin from its early days. This raises a big question: Could the founders of Bitcoin actually be the ones who contributed to the emergence of XRP? Emails from 2009 show that Satoshi once praised RipplePay – the predecessor of XRP – with the commendation 'unique' for building trust rather than centralized control. However, Satoshi only spoke about RipplePay, not XRP, and this may be why many people confuse his praise with XRP.
Another noteworthy factor is Satoshi's disappearance in 2011 and the emergence of XRP shortly thereafter. Recently, Arthur Britto, one of the founding figures of Ripple, also reappeared on online platforms, while some old Bitcoin wallets unexpectedly had new transactions. These signs further fuel suspicion and speculation in the community about a possible connection between Satoshi and XRP.
Although there is still no concrete evidence to confirm the relationship between Satoshi Nakamoto and XRP, David Schwartz's statements, the timing coincidences, and the old emails continue to fuel speculation in the cryptocurrency community. The question of Satoshi's involvement in the emergence of XRP will certainly remain a hot topic, attracting the attention of not only investors but also analysts in the future. Does the relationship between Satoshi and XRP really exist? Only time can answer this question.