By Nermeen Nabil Khear 
Is Ripple and its $XRP token in trouble? What happened? Until last Friday, $XRP seemed to be the darling of the crypto sector. However, on Thursday last week, President Trump signed a crypto related Executive Order which could pave the way for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
However, Ripple is getting a lot of flak for trying to undermine the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Is there any truth to it? Who are we to judge. So, let’s try to find out what is happening and how this could impact XRP!
Why Are Ripple and $XRP in the Crossfire?
Ripple favors a Strategic Crypto Reserve, with $XRP taking the spotlight. This criticism has already been going on for the last two weeks. Ever since, Trump announced a US federal crypto stockpile.
Face the facts: Ripple / XRP has been the leading source of anti-bitcoin misinformation for more than a decade. They have aggressively lobbied policymakers around the world to try to ban bitcoin mining. Weaponizing woke ESG narratives to promote their centralized token. https://t.co/LS6N5cLLCs pic.twitter.com/oAf6qTjrYb
— Pierre Rochard (@BitcoinPierre) January 24, 2025
Before the weekend, more questions about Ripple started to appear. I already pointed that out in Friday’s video. So, let’s take a look at why Ripple and $XRP are being criticized so much.
Let me get one thing straight. I’m happy that Ripple won the lawsuit that the SEC started against them. That is a landmark case and can influence the whole crypto sector. The XRP Army is also a good bunch. However, there is a case to be critical of Ripple and $XRP.
Ripple Is Too Centralized
This is not something new. Ripple catches most of this criticism because they’re too centralized. Let me explain. According to this criticism, Ripple has too much control over the network.
Currently, the Ripple network has around 150 validators. Around 35 of the validator nodes are in the default UNL. That’s the Unique Node List. This is what their FAQs say about what a UNL is;
UNLs are the lists of validators a given participant believes will not conspire to defraud them. Each server operator can choose their own UNL, usually based on a default set provided by a trusted publisher. (A default set from a publisher is sometimes called a default UNL, or dUNL.)
Ripple controls only 1 or 2 of them, according to their own website and FAQs. However, there’s something else that’s more disturbing.
Ripple, the company behind $XRP, controls around 50% of the $XRP supply. Rajat Soni has been pointing this out a lot. He’s a finance industry expert.
2. XRP is no way a decentralized digital asset. Ripple Labs, creator of XRP, owns over 44% of XRP’s tokens.
If you include the founders of XRP, well over 50% of the supply is owned by a few insiders and they were acquired from the pre-mine. Totally unethical and centralized.
— Bitcoin Dad (@bitcoin_dad) January 24, 2025
For example, he states that Ripple received 80% of $XRP’s initial supply. This leads him to question if Ripple won’t sell $XRP when the price goes up. According to him, that’s the reason $XRP hasn’t hit a new ATH for 8 years.
As a result, he claims that banks won’t use Ripple or $XRP. As he says, Banks don’t want to be taken advantage of. They are the ones who take advantage of others.
XRP is not decentralized.
The developer for XRP is Ripple Labs.
Banks don’t want to be taken advantage of.
They are the ones who take advantage of others.
— Rajat Soni, CFA (@rajatsonifnance) January 17, 2025
He also claims that Ripple can change the code of $XRP. This allows it to print more $XRP. Following this sentiment, there’s another sore point that many people don’t like. $XRP can dump on retail at any time.
And they do. Every quarter. So, as you can see, there’s something to say about the centralization argument.
The US Federal Crypto Stockpile
Trump has been talking about a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve for a while. It all started well before his inauguration. This idea was well received by many experts.
However, one party was not so impressed with this idea. And, no, I’m not talking about the Democrat party. Instead, it’s Ripple. The moment, there was talk of a Strategic Crypto Reserve, Ripple has been advocating for it.
Ripple actually has a long-standing reputation of being anti Bitcoin. For example, Ripple tried to attack the proof-of-work consensus mechanism of Bitcoin. Through Greenpeace, they tried to attack Bitcoin. However, that didn’t work out.
4. XRP employs a marketing and PR team to sabotage Bitcoin.
Ripple Co-founder, Chris Larsen, donated $5M to Greenpeace to commission this art piece and PR campaign to spread LIES about Bitcoin’s energy use.
Even though BTC mining is GOOD for the environment and power grid. pic.twitter.com/NbtUmpDecw
— Bitcoin Dad (@bitcoin_dad) January 24, 2025
Ripple also donated around $12 million to Kamala’s presidential campaign. But, once Trump won the election, they have been donating more money than any other project, to Trump. The reason is that Ripple is very active in the CBDC market. They’re actually a leading player in this market segment. However, Trump banned CBDCs in his crypto related Executive Order.
So, Ripple and $XRP are not decentralized. That’s why many people oppose a Strategic Crypto Reserve. One of the arguments is that Ripple is a company. You don’t add public companies to Strategic Reserves. You set up Strategic Reserves with assets that are decentralized and scarce. Like Bitcoin and Gold. Not like Coca-Cola or Apple.
XRP is owned by Ripple. Ripple is a company. Putting a company in a strategic reserve is blasphemy, like adding Coca-Cola stock to a nation’s gold reserve. It’s a joke at best.
Strategic reserves (like gold or Bitcoin) are typically chosen for their decentralization, scarcity,… https://t.co/Yd9Jwoygrk
— Petey B (@realpeteyb123) January 25, 2025
Is $XRP a Cryptocurrency or a Digital Token?
So, all this has also many experts questioning if $XRP is crypto after all. The argument is that $XRP is more of a digital token instead of a cryptocurrency. This argument has been around for many years already.
Greg Maxwell put the nail in Ripple’s coffin back in 2013: “just another premined altcoin”. pic.twitter.com/1nyIhJSBi6
— Tuur Demeester (@TuurDemeester) January 24, 2025
I am in favor of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. It makes the most sense to me. I’ve already pointed this out plenty of times in my previous videos.
However, there’s one thing that Ripple and other US based crypto projects have going for them. That’s the alleged zero capital gains tax. This can be a massive boost for US based crypto projects.
Members of the XRP Army will likely see this as a buy the dip opportunity. Especially if XRP drops today as we expect. If the SEC lawsuit did not deter the Army, then this probably won’t either.
So, what’s your view on Ripple and $XRP. Or rather, a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, vs a Strategic Crypto Reserve?
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This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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