Schwartz Moves Into “CTO Emeritus” Role
Ripple’s longtime chief technology officer David Schwartz is stepping down from his day-to-day role after more than a decade at the company, moving into a new position as “CTO emeritus” on Ripple’s board.
Senior vice president of engineering Dennis Jarosch will take over technical operations, Ripple confirmed Tuesday.
Schwartz, one of the original architects of the XRP Ledger, announced the decision in a post on X.
“I’m not going away from the XRP community. You haven’t seen the last of me,”
He wrote, adding that he plans to keep tinkering with XRPL development, including running his own node and exploring new XRP use cases beyond Ripple’s focus.
He said the move will allow him to spend more time with his family while continuing to stay close to the XRP community.
A decade of XRP leadership
Joining Ripple in 2011 as a cryptographer, Schwartz helped design the ledger that underpins XRP transactions.
He was promoted to CTO in 2018, guiding the protocol through regulatory challenges, technical upgrades, and years of community debate. Over that time, he became one of the most recognizable public figures in the XRP ecosystem, frequently defending its place in the broader crypto landscape.
Ripple expands into tokenized finance
The leadership shift comes as Ripple is advancing its push into tokenized markets. Earlier this year, the company launched its RLUSD stablecoin, designed for enterprise-grade payments and liquidity solutions.
In September, RLUSD was integrated into Securitize’s infrastructure, enabling investors in BlackRock’s BUIDL fund and VanEck’s VBILL to redeem tokenized shares directly for RLUSD on-chain. This means institutional investors can move from tokenized funds into stablecoin liquidity without routing back through fiat, a significant step in making RLUSD part of the financial plumbing for tokenized capital markets.
Institutional and market adoption
Ripple has positioned RLUSD as a cornerstone of its strategy to expand beyond cross-border payments. With Securitize now managing $4 billion in tokenized assets, RLUSD’s integration highlights Ripple’s ambitions to provide real-time settlement for the next generation of digital finance.
Potential broader adoption through an XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF).
CEO Brad Garlinghouse earlier this year has expressed optimism that an XRP ETF could receive approval by late 2025, following the company’s favorable outcomes in its legal proceedings with the SEC.
Currently, six XRP ETF applications are under review, including filings from prominent asset managers such as Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, and CoinShares. Analysts project that the approval of these ETFs could lead to inflows ranging from $10 billion to $20 billion within the first year, potentially driving XRP's price to levels between $20 and $30 by 2026.
XRP was trading at $2.92 at press time, 3% up in the past 24 hours.
The introduction of an XRP ETF would provide institutional investors with a regulated avenue to gain exposure to XRP, aligning with broader trends of digital asset adoption in traditional finance.
Roman Zaika
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