The founder of Messari, Ryan Selkis, has generated further controversy by branding XRP and Ripple as an obstruction to the pro-crypto agenda of the Trump government. His criticism emphasizes long-standing disputes in the digital currency space and concentrates on Ripple’s claimed centralizing behavior and massive XRP holdings.
Selkis claims that these components go against the distributed character of cryptocurrencies and could compromise more general goals for the acceptance of blockchain technology.
Ripple’s Growing Market Cap Raises Questions
Among Selkis’s key concerns are XRP’s growing market value. He believes that the fact that Ripple’s value now compares to that of large companies like Salesforce and Bank of America might skew market opinions.
XRP is now bigger than Salesforce and approaching BofA in market cap.
+ Top 30 US company.
+ Twice the value of Uber.
+ Bigger than Shopify, PayPal, and Microstrategy combined.
+ 5x the size of Coinbase.Ripple’s crash and scandals will take down the entire crypto agenda in DC.
— Ryan Selkis (d/acc)
(@twobitidiot) January 16, 2025
He says that this financial power makes it more difficult to match Bitcoin-focused principles with Washington’s cryptocurrency objective. Selkis cautions that this kind of control could impede the administration’s intentions for more extensive blockchain innovation.
Centralization Vs. Decentralization
People often argue about Ripple’s role in terms of how it is structured. The spread of XRP is much more tightly controlled than Bitcoin’s. Ripple Labs holds a large amount of it. Some people, including Selkis, say that this setup goes against the idea that blockchain technology is autonomous. The centralization criticism is still a hot topic in public debate, even though Ripple says its operations are important for its ecosystem.
Impact On The Trump Crypto Agenda
Selkis also points out that Ripple’s growing influence could make Trump’s pro-crypto stance challenging. Considered fundamental principles of its economic policy, the government has focused on developing Blockchain technologies and Bitcoin. But Ripple’s predominance in some financial spheres could lead to conflict and divert attention from alternative distributed solutions. This begs the issue of how legislators might settle these disputes.
The reason I’m a dick about Ripple isn’t because I care about XRP or its memecoin rally. I’m happy for all of the retail holders who have made bank.
My issue with them is that they aren’t content with just being billionaires, they lust for power.
But they aren’t good people.
— Ryan Selkis (d/acc)
In a separate post meant to be an explainer for his hostility against the company, Selkis claimed that the executives of Ripple are people who “lust for power,” presumably referring to chairman Chris Larsen and CEO Brad Garlinghouse.
“My issue with them [Ripple executives] is that they aren’t content with just being billionaires, they lust for power,” he contended.
The Road Ahead For Ripple And XRP
For its part, Ripple has always refuted claims that it compromises values associated with cryptocurrencies. The company uses its partnerships with financial institutions and programs to improve cross-border transactions as proof of its value. The crypto community is still debating whether Ripple represents a necessary development or a step away from the original blockchain aim.
The differences between Ripple’s approach and more broad crypto goals point to more important questions regarding blockchain technology’s future. As XRP’s value rises, the challenge will be balancing encouragement of innovation and decentralization with each other.
Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView
