- Defending Musk’s taxes
- The shock
In a latest social media submit, Ripple CTO David Schwartz clarified that the institution of the escrow truly prevented Ripple from promoting as a lot XRP because it wished.
“Earlier than the escrow, Ripple may have offered as a lot XRP because it wished each month.”
This comes after a person acknowledged that Schwartz established the Ripple Escrow system to systematically dump 1 billion XRP onto the market each month to “fund his profession” on the expense of retail buyers.
Defending Musk’s taxes
The dialog begins with a protection of Elon Musk, pivots to an assault on Ripple’s XRP gross sales, and culminates in a stunning revelation concerning the historical past of Ripple’s well-known Escrow.
The dialog begins with Schwartz correcting a typical false impression concerning billionaires and taxes.
The critic argues Musk’s tax price is low (1.43%) as a result of they’re evaluating his tax invoice ($10B) to his complete wealth ($700 billion).
Nonetheless, you’re taxed on what you earn or promote, not on what you personal. If Musk would not promote his inventory, he hasn’t “earned” that cash in a taxable sense but. Therefore, you can’t tax unrealized beneficial properties as in the event that they had been money in a checking account.
The shock
In 2017, Ripple locked 55 billion XRP right into a collection of escrows to launch 1 billion per 30 days. This was marketed as a technique to create predictability and certainty for buyers.
The escrow was a restriction. Earlier than 2017, Ripple had complete entry to their holdings and will have offered extra than 1 billion a month if it selected.
Schwartz reveals he truly voted in opposition to the escrow. Why? He valued operational flexibility. He did not assume the “upside” was definitely worth the “draw back” (Ripple shedding the flexibility to entry their capital freely). This contradicts the narrative that Ripple execs love the escrow.
Furthermore, the Ripple CTO has opined that merchants have already adjusted the value of XRP right now to account for these future gross sales.
“And if you consider it, the whole lot folks know will occur and count on to occur ought to already be constructed into the present value,” he stated.

