Ripple CTO Addresses Concerns Behind XRP Ledger Missing Genesis Block, Cites Ethereum Example

David Schwartz, the CTO of Ripple, recently addressed concerns surrounding the missing genesis block on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), citing a similar case with Ethereum.

Schwartz made the latest disclosures while responding to questions raised by community member MetaMan regarding the XRP Ledger’s seemingly unusual start at block 32,569. 

MetaMan voiced skepticism and emphasized the importance of transparency for XRP holders. “Tell me, is there any blockchain that lost its genesis block,” the XRP community member asked Schwartz on X.

Similar Case with Ethereum

In response, the Ripple CTO drew a parallel to Ethereum’s genesis block ambiguity. He highlighted that Ethereum, despite having transactions predating its official start, does not publicly document them. 

The choice of what to consider the genesis block is arbitrary. For example, ETH has lots of transactions before its genesis block that are not in the publicly available record. 1/2

— David “JoelKatz” Schwartz (@JoelKatz) January 16, 2024

Schwartz pointed to a specific 2,622 ETH transaction on Aug. 3, 2016, moving over $6 million. He questioned, “Where did that ETH come from? Where’s the transaction that explains it?”

An XRP community member referenced transactions showing 40,000 ETH transferred during Ethereum’s genesis block.

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Schwartz acknowledged this but stressed that the source of those 40,000 ETH was not publicly visible due to deliberate decisions in defining Ethereum’s genesis block.

Schwartz argued that such decisions, including XRPL’s genesis block starting at ledger 32,569, were arbitrary. He contended that similar choices, like those made in Ethereum’s case, aimed to obscure fund sources. 

When asked if the 40,000 ETH tokens “just showed up out of thin air,” the Ripple CTO emphasized that, from the public blockchain perspective, they did. However, he stressed that Ethereum insiders possess more information on the matter.

Nonetheless, in the case of the XRP Ledger, being one of the original architects, Schwartz confirmed that the genesis ledger of the chain had no transactions. However, according to him, the first 32,570 ledgers contained 534 transactions, which are presumably lost now.

Before Schwartz’s response to MetaMan’s initial question, Mayukha Vadari, a Senior Software Developer at RippleX, explained the reason behind the loss of genesis block.

She noted that the initial set of XRPL servers experienced uniform configuration and simultaneous memory depletion, leading to ledger issues.

Sustained Concerns Around the XRPL Genesis Block

This isn’t the first time the genesis block’s peculiarity has been questioned. Critics, in the past, raised concerns about the distribution scheme of XRP, suggesting hidden motives behind the absence of earlier ledgers. Schwartz has consistently debunked such notions.

An XRP holder asked a similar question in the Bitcoin Stack Exchange forum in October 2013, a year after the XRP Ledger went live. He sought to know the reason behind starting the network at block 32,570.

Schwartz responded to this query, noting that a bug affected Ripple servers, causing ledger headers to be lost.

Despite efforts to collect data, insufficient information hindered ledger reconstruction. He reassured the user that the missing ledgers (1 – 32,570) held no significance for average XRPL users.

Moreover, in a post from December 2019, Schwartz provided a broader historical perspective, emphasizing the XRP Ledger’s evolution since its live debut in June 2012. According to him, after the ledger went live, it featured bugs which they had to fix. 

Schwartz confirmed that, as a result of some of these bugs and reset exercises carried out on the network, data from the XRP Ledger’s first week, stored in ledgers 1 – 32,570, was lost. However, he assured that they did not recreate the initial 100 billion XRP supply upon the resets.