Ripple CTO David Schwartz stated that the company operates only about 1% of the XRP Ledger network and has no control over transactions. He emphasized that there is no "backdoor" in the codebase that would allow Ripple to unilaterally control the network.

Although Ripple is a major contributor to the XRP ecosystem and holds billions of XRP tokens, Schwartz affirmed that any changes to transaction processing must be approved by 80% of the network. He added that the ability to censor transactions would make the company a target for external pressure.

Currently, the XRP Ledger has 186 active validators, with Ripple operating only one. Rumors about Ripple’s control over the network still persist in the community, but the company has gradually reduced the number of validators it controls since XRP Ledger launched in 2012.