XRP News Today: Crypto Influencer Amelie Claims Bitcoin Was XRP's Beta Test

Crypto influencer Amelie recently shared an old promotional image of Ripple from its early development phase, sparking a discussion about the relationship between Bitcoin and XRP. The image, which dates back to Ripple’s earliest promotional stages, features a banner describing Ripple as “the world’s first open payment network” and highlights features such as distributed exchanges, cross-currency payments, and liquidity improvements. Notably, the banner includes the phrase “Built by Bitcoiners,” which Amelie used to support her assertion that Bitcoin served as a “beta test” for XRP, positioning XRP as the “final product.”

The image prominently features Arthur Britto and David Schwartz, early contributors to Ripple, who positioned the platform as a technologically advanced alternative to Bitcoin’s initial shortcomings in payment scalability and interoperability. Ripple’s consensus protocol, which differs significantly from Bitcoin’s proof-of-work model, was introduced to address these issues directly. Amelie’s tweet suggests that Bitcoin functioned as a “beta test,” while XRP represents a more refined, scalable iteration. This perspective is controversial, but Amelie presents it as a factual progression rather than a speculative opinion. The tone of her message is definitive, asserting XRP’s role as the superior technological evolution.

Amelie’s use of the phrase “Built by Bitcoiners” points to the historical reality that some of Ripple’s early contributors had been involved in Bitcoin or had studied its limitations closely. Ripple’s creators sought to improve on what they considered inefficiencies in Bitcoin’s architecture, especially around transaction throughput, energy consumption, and lack of native support for multiple currencies. The tweet suggests that Bitcoin functioned as a “beta test,” while XRP represents a more refined, scalable iteration. This perspective is controversial, but Amelie presents it as a factual progression rather than a speculative opinion. The tone of her message is definitive, asserting XRP’s role as the superior technological evolution.

Amelie’s tweet received responses from other users on the X platform. One user, posting under the handle Crypto, reacted with a rhetorical question: “Is the failure worth 100,000 dollars? Ha ha ha,” seemingly mocking Bitcoin’s high valuation in the context of its limitations. Another user named James echoed Amelie’s position, stating, “I agree XRP is the better vision of Bitcoin.” These replies reflect contrasting interpretations of Bitcoin’s value proposition relative to XRP’s utility and network design.

The promotional image shared in Amelie’s tweet serves as a reminder of Ripple’s original messaging strategy and technological goals. Descriptions on the banner, such as “More Merchants,” “Increased Liquidity & Utility,” and “Shared Principles, Shared Dream” reflect the ambition to build a more adaptable and enterprise-friendly system than Bitcoin. The visual reinforcement of Ripple’s origins and ethos, alongside Amelie’s labeling of Bitcoin as a prototype, adds context to the longstanding debate about which blockchain projects are best suited for institutional and cross-border applications. The image and accompanying statement also illustrate how the early Ripple team sought legitimacy by building on Bitcoin’s foundation while simultaneously identifying areas for improvement.