Foreign media refutes a long-standing controversy regarding XRP, arguing that Ripple’s early involvement in developing the XRP Ledger does not equate to current direct control over the network. The article also presents three price scenarios for XRP.
More than 150 validators
The relationship between XRP and Ripple has long been a point of market contention. Critics often use this to argue that XRP is more centralized than cryptocurrency assets like Bitcoin. However, the perspective cited in the article states that participating in software development is not the same as controlling transaction validation.
According to public information from the XRP Ledger, it is a decentralized public blockchain, and Ripple does not own or control the entire network. The article notes that the current network consists of over 150 validators, making it impossible for a single entity to determine the network's operations on its own.
Ripple operates only one validator.
The article states that Ripple currently operates only one node on its default validator list. For protocol upgrades, at least 80% of validators typically need to support the change, meaning network updates require broad consensus rather than being driven by a single company.
The article also mentions that Ripple proposed a decentralization strategy as early as 2017 to reduce the influence of its own validators. The company recently stated that it currently operates only one validator.
Still holding a large amount of XRP custodial assets
However, the article does not deny Ripple’s important role in the XRP ecosystem. It remains one of the primary builders around XRP and the XRP Ledger, and it also controls billions of XRP in custodial accounts—a key reason why controversy persists.
In addition to the discussion on network structure, the article outlines price scenarios for XRP: a base case of $2.45, an optimistic case of $2.69, and a pessimistic case of $1.60. According to CoinGecko data cited in the article, XRP’s price at the time was approximately $1.42.