Ripple's CTO: McCaleb's Departure Led to Stellar's Birth

Ripple's CTO, David Schwartz, recently shed light on the reasons behind Jed McCaleb's departure from Ripple and his subsequent creation of Stellar (XLM). McCaleb, a co-founder of Ripple, left the company in 2013 and went on to establish Stellar, a blockchain-based platform that facilitates cross-border transactions.

According to Schwartz, McCaleb had ideas that were ultimately rejected by Ripple's Board of Directors. Unable to implement his vision within Ripple, McCaleb decided to leave and founded Stellar based on those rejected ideas. One of Stellar's early initiatives was a large-scale giveaway, similar to what McCaleb had proposed at Ripple. However, Schwartz described this giveaway as a failure and suggested that Stellar eventually pivoted to become "a clone of Ripple."

Another key issue highlighted by Schwartz was McCaleb's attempt to sell off his XRP holdings rapidly. Ripple intervened, preventing him from doing so through legal measures. Schwartz stated that if Ripple had not taken action, McCaleb might have sold his XRP at a much lower valuation, significantly reducing its worth. As a result of Ripple's restrictions, McCaleb's XRP holdings ended up being worth over $1 billion.

Schwartz also criticized McCaleb's approach to handling internal disagreements at Ripple. Rather than accepting the decisions of Ripple's leadership and investors, McCaleb publicly criticized the company and started a direct competitor. Schwartz believes such actions are unethical.

In response to Schwartz's comments, an X user named Dane pointed out that Schwartz explicitly stated that his remarks were not a reflection of Stellar's current status or prospects. Dane argued that ignoring this aspect of Schwartz's statement would take the message out of context. While Schwartz was critical of McCaleb's actions, he made no claims about Stellar's present value as a project.

Schwartz himself later responded to Dane, stating, "100%. If you think what Jed did somehow renders Stellar/SDF evil or deserving of scorn, that argument almost equally applies to XRPL/Ripple." This comment emphasized that McCaleb's departure and actions should not necessarily be used to discredit the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) or the Stellar project itself. Schwartz appeared to acknowledge that Ripple and Stellar have their