Ripple chief technology officer (CTO) David Schwartz told CoinDesk TV that “all the evidence” suggests that bitcoin and XRP are similar, despite allegations that XRP is being sold illegally as a security.
Schwartz said during ‘First Mover’ on Wednesday: ‘The market considers them similar. We consider them similar. ”
Ripple is defending itself against an action by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleging that the company and two of its executives violated U.S. security laws by selling XRP to retail consumers. The SEC action “came out of nowhere,” Schwartz said, saying that XRP and cryptocurrencies like bitcoin “are completely different.”
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The CTO of Ripple also used its television appearance to allay the fears that XRP holders have about whether certain outcomes of the lawsuit could lead to Ripple being terminated.
‘The market capitalization of these systems amounts to billions of dollars. “People acting in their own interest will not allow the ecosystem to die if there is a way to save it,” he said. “That’s all that keeps these systems together. The governing bodies have no legal authority to control these systems. You have to think that people will be able to gather enough to fix it. ‘
XRP has enjoyed a price increase over the past few days, rising above the $ 1.00 mark for the first time in three years on Tuesday.
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Schwartz was reluctant to offer solid reasons for this increase, but suggested that rumors about the renaming of XRP by Coinbase ‘could have caused some upward movement.’ ‘
Another factor, he said: “The trial in the case where Ripple granted access to SEC documents … could affect the price. “But he admits that ‘there really is no way to know.’