Ripple CTO Hints at Key Reason for Missing XRPL Data Shortly After Launch

In recent tweets, Ripple CTO David Schwartz shed light on missing XRPL data shortly after its launch in 2012. The XRP Ledger was first launched in June 2012. However, its earliest history can only be located as far back as December 2012.

Schwartz was responding to a Twitter critic who inquired about any XRP transactions on the blockchain in its earliest months, spanning July to November 2012, before Ripple was incorporated.

The binary formats changed so updated tools couldn’t understand then. We just discarded the old data when we did this. While there could have been third parties keeping copies, I don’t know of any.

— David “JoelKatz” Schwartz (@JoelKatz) June 22, 2023

The Ripple CTO answered that he was uncertain if anyone kept any copies, as there was no reason to keep any at the time. This is because it was improbable that anyone would want them years later. He continued by saying that it never occurred to the team to keep data across binary format changes.

Seeking more answers, another Twitter user inquired into the Ripple CTO’s comments and asked if transactions and wallets at the time will still be on the XRPL.

Schwartz explained that the binary formats changed, and the updated tools at the time could not understand them. The data was subsequently rendered unusable as a result, and thus, the team had to discard it. He adds the possibility of a third party having copies of this old data, but he is unaware of any such third party.

“The binary formats changed, so updated tools couldn’t understand them then. We just discarded the old data when we did this. While there could have been third parties keeping copies, I don’t know of any,” Schwartz answered.

Back to what triggered the discussion: a false claim that Ripple created XRP. Schwartz dispels this misunderstanding by pointing out that the company that became “Ripple” did not exist before September 2012, whereas “XRP” was created in June 2012.

In 2011, three engineers — David Schwartz, Jed McCaleb and Arthur Britto — began developing XRP Ledger (XRPL). On June 2, 2012, Arthur Britto submitted lines of code that produced 100 billion XRP tokens (then called “XNS”). This day is recognized as XRP’s birthday in official circles.