David Schwartz, who had been serving as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Ripple since 2018, has decided to step down. In an update shared on X Schwartz said that he will be distancing himself from the day-to-day duties at Ripple but will continue to contribute as part of the board of directors at the mammoth crypto firm.
Schwartz is touted among the core architects who coded the XRP Ledger into existence. The public, open source, and decentralized blockchain is represented by the XRP token in the crypto ecosystem, the market cap of which presently stands at a whopping $170.3 billion, as per CoinMarketCap.
Elaborating on his decision, Schwartz hinted that he would continue working on his own XRPL node and publishing its output data expanding research on more usecases for Ripple.
“I truly enjoy this part — getting my hands dirty, talking to builders, coding for the pure love of it — and I’m really excited to get back to that. More to come on this very soon, I’m sure,” he said.
Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple reshared Schwartz’s update on X calling him a “legend” and a “true OG in crypto”.
“I am glad you won’t be far as you join the Ripple board, continuing to impart your deep crypto wisdom and guidance on what we’re building,” Garlinghouse said.
As a member of the board of directors alongside Ripple’s executive chairman Chris Larsen, Schwartz will now be overseeing the CEO’s work. In addition, he will have more say in chalking out strategic directions for the company and in representing the interest of the shareholders.
Meanwhile, Dennis Jarosch is reportedly being promoted as the next CTO of the company to fill into Schwartz’s shoes. Jarosch has been serving as the senior vice president of engineering of Ripple since October 2024, as per his LinkedIn profile. An official confirmation on Jarosch’s appointment as the next Ripple CTO remains awaited for now.