David Schwartz Denies Billionaire Status Despite XRP’s Surge

David Schwartz, the CTO of Ripple, has recently clarified that he is not a billionaire, despite the speculation surrounding his wealth during XRP's dramatic rise in 2018.

At the time, Ripple’s co-founder, Chris Larsen, saw his net worth soar to $54 billion, largely due to his 9 billion XRP tokens. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse was also worth nearly $10 billion when XRP peaked.

Unlike his colleagues, Schwartz chose a 2% stake in Ripple and a salary instead of XRP tokens. In 2019, Forbes estimated his wealth at about $90 million, and by 2021, Schwartz noted his net worth was still “a lot less than $170 million.”

He had also admitted that much of his wealth was tied to volatile assets, making it a risky situation despite his satisfaction with the returns.

In addition to XRP, Schwartz has confirmed that he holds Bitcoin and several other altcoins. Ripple’s resurgence earlier this year, with XRP climbing to the third spot in market cap, has reignited interest in the cryptocurrency.

As a result, Larsen saw a $6 billion increase in his net worth in just a month, fueled by the surge of XRP’s value.