XRP News Today: Ripple's Origins Traced Back to 2004, Preceding Bitcoin

Coin WorldWednesday, Jun 25, 2025 7:45 am ET
1min read

A newly surfaced document has stunned the crypto community by suggesting that Ripple's origins date back to 2004, four years before the creation of

. The document, shared by an XRP community member, includes a 2014 email exchange between industry insiders, notably tech journalist Reutzel Bailey. In the email, Bailey asserts that Ripple's concept predates Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin whitepaper, published in 2008, raising new questions about the true origins of the digital finance revolution.

According to Bailey, Ryan Fugger first conceptualized

in 2004, developing a platform called RipplePay. This platform aimed to enable peer-to-peer value transfer without relying on traditional banking systems. Chris Larsen, now Ripple’s co-founder, later advanced the project. Bailey suggests that Larsen leveraged the growing hype around Bitcoin to reposition Ripple as a cryptocurrency, despite the platform's original focus not being on cryptocurrency.

The email conversation also addresses claims that Ripple mimicked Bitcoin. Industry voice Jeffrey Cliff firmly stated, “Ripple predates Bitcoin,” refuting the notion of Ripple as a “copycat math-based currency.” The timeline indicates 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, while Ripple claims an earlier ideological foundation.

In 2011, developers Jed McCaleb, Arthur Britto, and David Schwartz began building the XRP Ledger (XRPL). Their goal was to create a more efficient system than Bitcoin, particularly by avoiding its energy-intensive proof-of-work system. McCaleb convinced Fugger to transform RipplePay into a crypto network, leading to the creation of NewCoin in 2012, which was later renamed OpenCoin and then simply Ripple. The XRPL creators allocated 80 billion XRP to Ripple, with McCaleb personally receiving 9.5 billion XRP, which he sold off gradually, completing his exit in 2022. After leaving Ripple, he co-founded Stellar. Chris Larsen remained with Ripple and continues to serve as its chairman.

While Bitcoin is recognized as the first true cryptocurrency, Ripple's earlier origins indicate 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. It reminds us that Ripple was not just another Bitcoin competitor but possibly one of the first to envision a world beyond traditional banking systems.

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