Nik Bougalis, the lead engineer at Ripple Labs, is departing the firm after almost 10 years. Bougalis made the announcement on the weekend of XRP’s birthday.
Bougalis recently stated in a tweet that his ten-year adventure at Ripple has been great (albeit exhausting and all-consuming). I had the opportunity to work on a project I love with a cause I support. But in a few weeks, that voyage will come to an end.
After leaving Ripple, Bougalis made it clear that he would not work on any more blockchain projects or invest in non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The cryptographer handled a number of changes to the XRPL’s code while working with Ripple, including the XLS-20 amendment that will let programmers launch NFTs straight onto the ledger. Even if a few glitches still need to be fixed, the crucial upgrade is planned for November.
Effects of the resignation on Ripple
Bougalis’ retirement occurs as testing of an XRP Ledger sidechain that is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), the program that powers smart contracts on Ethereum, is starting to be conducted by Ripple.
The developer said that XRP could perfectly function without him.
“What about the #XRPL?” Its long-term well-being and prosperity are not dependent on any one individual. Thanks to the brilliant and motivated people who contribute and engage in their own unique ways, I’m convinced that everything will work out just fine.”
Bougalis is the latest in a long line of cryptocurrency executives to decide to retire this year. Big leaders in the business, including Polkadot co-founder Gavin Wood, Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell, and MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor, are among notable chief executives in the cryptosphere who have departed in the past several months.
Ripple vs SEC
Although unconnected to Bougalis leaving Ripple, the fintech company continues its well-publicized legal spat with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over whether the XRP cryptocurrency counts as a security.
In a recent victory over the regulatory body, The firm finally got its hands on the long-requested documents from the former SEC staffer who claimed that ether (ETH) was not a security. These vital records could greatly bolster Ripple’s legal defense in the lawsuit.
XRP is currently the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, which is up 0.15% today at $0.4565.
Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/ripples-chief-engineer-resigns-after-10-yrs/