Eight blocks in a row from Foundry USA won’t break BTC, nevertheless it did crack open the identical outdated query that by no means fairly goes away: how a lot management just a few massive gamers can exert over the chain at any given second, and what meaning when the design itself permits the previous to be rewritten underneath the precise circumstances.
That’s the difficulty Vet, an XRPL validator and xrpcafe cofounder, needed to make a blunt level: Nakamoto-style techniques, whether or not proof-of-work or principally proof-of-stake, tolerate chain reorganizations by design.
If a dominant miner or validator cohort decides to pressure a rollback, the foundations won’t cease them — the economics will.
One would possibly ask, “What about XRP and XRPL?” Vet argues that it’s a totally different path: as soon as a transaction is confirmed, it’s ultimate. Thus, you don’t get the “let’s rewind just a few blocks” state of affairs within the first place.
For builders constructing video games, NFTs or cost instruments, this certainty is greater than only a concept. It’s the basis of apps that require reliability when property are shifting rapidly and altering arms steadily.
XRP or Bitcoin?
Collectively, it is extremely a lot a snapshot of 2025: Bitcoin instructions roughly 59% dominance of the market, and centralization nerves flare every time a pool has an evening like this, whereas XRPL backers attempt to promote “totally different, not simply sooner or cheaper” — finality you can’t rewind, property that don’t vanish behind somebody’s API.
Whether or not these trade-offs are acceptable is the argument; folks like Vet are ensuring it stays entrance and middle, and the most recent block streak exhibits why the dialog won’t be fading anytime quickly.