XRP News Today: Ripple Donates Controversial Skull of Satoshi Sculpture to Bitcoin Community

Ripple has made a significant gesture towards fostering unity within the cryptocurrency community by donating the controversial “Skull of Satoshi” sculpture to the Bitcoin community. This move was announced during the Bitcoin Conference on May 28, marking an unexpected moment of collaboration between two traditionally rivalrous factions in the crypto industry.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse described the donation as a symbolic act aimed at promoting dialogue and solidarity across the broader blockchain space. He emphasized that the sculpture now stands as a monument to Bitcoin’s resilience and the collective promise of the crypto industry. Garlinghouse hopes that this gesture will remind everyone that the various crypto communities, including Bitcoin, XRP, and others, share more in common than they might think.

This development comes at a time when tensions between the Bitcoin and XRP communities have often flared, particularly over regulatory approaches and energy debates. The “Skull of Satoshi” sculpture, created by Canadian artist Benjamin Von Wong in 2023, was part of Greenpeace USA’s “Change the Code” campaign. The campaign encouraged Bitcoin developers to transition from the energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) model to the more sustainable proof-of-stake (PoS) system that Ethereum adopted in 2022.

The sculpture features shadowy coder figures beneath a skull composed of e-waste, set against industrial backdrops symbolizing energy use. It was designed to provoke thought around the environmental impact of Bitcoin’s proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism. However, the campaign faced stiff opposition from the Bitcoin community, who saw it as an attempt to vilify the top crypto. Criticism intensified when it was revealed that Ripple Co-founder Chris Larsen had donated $5 million to support the campaign, leading some to argue that Ripple was involved in efforts to discredit Bitcoin.

Von Wong maintains that the artwork was never intended to attack Bitcoin but rather to inspire the industry to embrace cleaner, renewable energy without compromising the core values of Bitcoin—security, decentralization, and censorship resistance. Despite this, the community reaction to Ripple’s donation has been mixed. Supporters view it as a sincere effort to build bridges between the two blockchain networks, while Bitcoin advocates argue that Ripple’s gesture was hollow, given its prior alignment with anti-BTC narratives.

VanEck’s head of digital asset research, Matthew Sigel, voiced his disdain for the piece, suggesting that Ripple should have apologized for its previous support of anti-Bitcoin campaigns. Other community members, such as Bitcoin supporter Pierre Rochard, echoed this sentiment, stating that Ripple’s attacks on Bitcoin have only made it stronger. Rochard remarked, “Brad, your attacks on bitcoin have only made it stronger. Bitcoin is anti-fragile.”