Ripple Chief Technology Emeritus Officer David Schwartz has admitted to deliberately restraining his true optimism about XRP and the broader digital asset market, citing concerns that his enthusiasm could be misread as market manipulation.
Schwartz recently expressed regret over the stifling effect his high-profile position has on his ability to speak candidly about his views.
"It's kind of sad that I don't feel comfortable sharing my optimism about XRP (and even, to some extent, cryptocurrencies generally) because it could be perceived as self-serving or, worse, deliberate manipulation," Schwartz wrote on X.
Defending the Right to Sell
Schwartz's reluctance to voice optimism is closely tied to the intense scrutiny he faces whenever he discusses his personal portfolio — particularly his history of selling crypto assets. In an industry dominated by a "diamond hands" culture that often shames profit-taking, Schwartz has consistently been a vocal advocate of pragmatic risk management.
The longtime Ripple executive has defended his past decisions to sell portions of his XRP, Bitcoin, and Ethereum holdings, moves that have drawn considerable controversy within the community.
"Everyone had the same opportunity to buy and sell XRP that I did. I did the same thing with bitcoin and ETH, and nobody seems to have a problem with that," he explained.
"I utterly reject the idea that selling is somehow morally inferior to buying and have advocated that everyone sell when it's in their personal financial interest to do so."
Schwartz also noted that the rejection of self-sacrificial financial behavior was part of what originally drew him to the early Bitcoin community.
He has never shied away from discussing his missed windfalls, viewing them simply as the cost of managing risk in a highly volatile market. In one well-known example, he traded Bitcoin for 26 million XRP, only to sell a significant portion of those holdings when the price reached $0.10 — a decision driven by the discomfort of holding millions of dollars in an extremely volatile asset.
Why it matters
Schwartz's position illustrates a structural tension for senior executives at crypto firms: their public statements about assets they hold or have held can attract regulatory scrutiny around market manipulation, even when the intent is to share a genuine personal view.
His defense of profit-taking challenges a cultural norm in crypto communities where selling is often treated as a breach of loyalty, raising a broader question about whether that norm serves retail holders' financial interests.
