XRP News Today: Ripple's Origins Traced Back to 2004, Pre-dating Bitcoin

Ripple's origins have been traced back to 2004, according to a resurfaced 2014 email, which has sparked a renewed debate about the true pioneers of digital finance. The email, shared by an XRP community member, reveals that the concept of Ripple predates Bitcoin, which was created in 2008. The document includes an exchange between several industry insiders, including tech journalist, who pointed out that Ripple's concept existed even before Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper.

According to the email, Ryan Fugger first came up with the idea for Ripple in 2004. He created a platform called RipplePay to enable peer-to-peer value transfer without relying on banks. However, it was Chris Larsen, now Ripple’s co-founder, who later took the project to the next level. Larsen is believed to have reframed Ripple as a cryptocurrency to capitalize on the growing hype around Bitcoin, although the platform itself was not initially about cryptocurrency.

The email conversation also addresses claims that Ripple mimicked Bitcoin. Industry voice Jeffrey Cliff firmly stated that Ripple predates Bitcoin, countering the notion that Ripple was a "copycat math-based currency." The timeline of events shows that Ripple's concept emerged in 2004, and its cryptocurrency, XRP, was launched in 2012, four years after Bitcoin’s 2008 debut. This timeline confirms Bitcoin as the first cryptocurrency, even as Ripple claims an earlier ideological spark.

In 2011, developers Jed McCaleb, Arthur Britto, and David Schwartz began building the XRP Ledger (XRPL). They aimed to create something more efficient than Bitcoin, particularly by avoiding its energy-heavy proof-of-work system. McCaleb reached out to Fugger and convinced him to turn RipplePay into a crypto network. This led to the creation of NewCoin in 2012, which was soon renamed OpenCoin, and later simply Ripple. The XRPL creators gave 80 billion XRP to Ripple. McCaleb personally received 9.5 billion XRP, which he sold off gradually, completing his exit in 2022. After leaving Ripple, he went on to co-found Stellar. Meanwhile, Chris Larsen stayed on and still serves as Ripple’s chairman today.

While Bitcoin may hold the title of the first true cryptocurrency, Ripple’s earlier origins show that the idea of decentralized value transfer was already taking shape years before. Today, as Ripple continues to innovate in cross-border payments, this rediscovered history adds depth to its role in the crypto world, reminding us that Ripple wasn’t just another Bitcoin competitor, but possibly one of the first to imagine a world beyond banks.