David Schwartz, Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer, has reaffirmed his stance on XRP’s pricing and its role in payments. His latest comments came after an investor expressed frustration over XRP’s price performance since 2017.
Price of XRP Tied to its Payment Efficiency
Schwartz responded to a sarcastic remark regarding XRP’s price, explaining that whether XRP trades at $1 or $1 million, the cost of moving $1 million remains unchanged. He added that a higher XRP price would enable cheaper and more efficient transactions, reducing the market impact of large payments.
This benefit is more challenging when XRP trades for lower prices, as seen when XRP hovered between $0.17 and $0.28 in 2017.By 2024, XRP’s price has climbed to around $0.54, a modest 92% increase over seven years.
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In contrast, Bitcoin has surged over 500% in the same period. Some investors feel frustrated by XRP’s lackluster growth, considering Schwartz’s earlier claims that XRP cannot stay cheap if it’s to serve high-value transactions efficiently.
Criticism from the Community
A member of the XRP community criticized Schwartz, arguing that XRP’s current low price indicates Ripple’s failure to establish the cryptocurrency as a major player in global payments.
Despite the criticism, Schwartz stood by his argument, reiterating that XRP’s advantages—wide availability, a top-five market cap position, low fees, and fast confirmation times—make it an ideal payment tool.
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Although XRP offers several benefits, Schwartz acknowledged that the cryptocurrency, like most others, has seen limited adoption in the payment space. He emphasized that this trend is not unique to XRP but affects the entire crypto industry. Schwartz hinted at reasons for this slow adoption but did not elaborate.
Many believe the slow uptake is due to challenges in integrating digital assets into traditional financial systems and navigating regulatory hurdles.