XRP Ledger Years Ahead of Ethereum As Vitalik Wanted Internship at Ripple

Matt Hamilton fumes over assertions about XRPL’s alleged centralization.

In a tweet today, former Ripple Director Matt Hamilton slammed Token Paddock for asserting that the XRP Ledger (XRPL) has nothing to do with decentralization.

The issue first started after Cyber Capital founder Justin Bons claimed in a recent tweet that XRP, BNB Coin (BNB), and Stellar Lumens (XLM) are centralized due to their permissioned blockchain infrastructure.

To defend the decentralized nature of XRPL, Panos Mekras, author of “Understanding the Crypto Economy,” noted that XRP Ledger invented decentralized finance. According to Mekras, XRPL was the first blockchain to support tokenized assets, decentralized exchange (DEX), stablecoin, and smart contract features.

Repeating something untrue doesn’t make it true. XRPL literally invented/pioneered DeFi, since it was the first blockchain to support a DEX, tokenization of assets, stablecoins and smart contract features. It’s decentralized and permissionless. Code speaks for itself.

— Panos 🔺 {X} ☀️ (τ,τ) (@panosmek) April 28, 2023

Token Paddock countered this claim saying Ethereum was the first to support all the features highlighted by Mekras. The crypto analytical platform added that XRPL is only a payment network and “has nothing to do with decentralization.” 

The team behind the Token Paddock handle further pointed out that “DeFi was coded on Ethereum for [the] first time in the crypto industry [in] 2016.” 

Former Ripple Director Reacts 

Notably, Token Paddock’s claims infuriated several XRP community members, including former Ripple’s director of developer relations. Hamilton noted that the team behind the Tokenpaddock “seem confused.” 

He clarified that XRPL had existed for several years before Ethereum was launched. Per Hamilton, Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin used to “sleep on the couch” of Ripple’s CTO David Schwartz while making moves to get enrolled as an intern in Ripple.

You seem confused. The XRP Ledger was several years before Ethereum. Vitalik used to sleep on the CTO of Ripple’s couch whilst trying to get an internship there.

— Matt Hamilton (@HammerToe) April 30, 2023

Notably, in 2019, Buterin disclosed that he once applied for an internship at Ripple in mid-2013. Buterin, who co-founded Ethereum two years later, said he missed the opportunity due to visa-related issues.