In an affidavit from 2023, which was recently published in connection with the SEC lawsuit against Ripple, a statement by David Schwartz, Chief Technology Officer von Ripple, caused a stir in the crypto community. According to Schwartz, Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator from Bitcoin, could have already kept a “large amount of XRP” in 2017.
The transcript that online via the X-account “XRPhodl” appearShow Schwartz how he compared the structured supervision of Ripple via XRP with the decentralized structure of Bitcoin. He said that Ripple’s active management of XRP contributed to the fact that it stands out when setting up its payment systems. In contrast, Bitcoin had no similarly coordinated efforts.
David Schwartz said Satoshi holds$XRP …
LINK TO COURT CASE PDF BELOWhttps://t.co/NgaHK0tbyE pic.twitter.com/0UH4Sc1QPK
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(@XrpHodL_) July 4, 2025
As he explained the contrast, Schwartz noted that it was extremely difficult to understand Bitcoin, but he believes that the Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto in 2017 probably had an enormous amount of XRP.
Schwartz’s consideration attracted special attention that the Ripple system could include a Nakamoto participation. Although Schwartz had never claimed to have been Nakamoto, Nakamotos heat and the connection between the early XRP Ledger development again.
In 2011 Nakamoto made it clear that he wanted to withdraw from Bitcoin by saying that he would turn to other things. In the same year, Schwartz began to contribute to the early blockchain projects, and crypto analysts and online observers have widely noticed this agreement.
Soon afterwards, Schwartz, together with Arthur Britto and Jed McCaleb, launched the XRP Ledger, a decentralized blockchain that is optimized for quick processing. It went into operation in 2012 and quickly became the protocol layer for the Ripple payment network, which fueled speculation that the timing was strategically coordinated.
The announcement in the SEC statement threw another bright light on the shape of ripple. Schwartz pointed out that the active role of Ripple was intended in the development and management of the XRP protocol and differed from the unbridled spread of Bitcoin. In his opinion, XRP is therefore better suited for certain applications, especially for payment solutions.
Despite the aggressive assertion of Nakamotos possible XRP-Hort, there is no evidence that combines Schwartz with the Bitcoin inventor or cement Nakamotos XRP ownership. The claim is sensational, but is not supported by documents for validation.
However, these statements further fueled speculation about Nakamoto’s true identity. Although the Creator of the Bitcoin Wallet has not yet been spent, the speculation will not be abbot so quickly. The statements of Schwartz only fueled the riddle.
The affidavit, which was part of the complaint of the SEC against Ripple, does not constitute a change in the basic claims. But it brings Satoshi Nakamoto into play and underlines the internal views of Ripple on the development, control and sales of digital currencies. In addition, speculation about Nakamoto’s possible role in the possible role of Nakamoto in the crypto communities.
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