Ripple CTO: Satoshi Was Bitcoin's Issuer

Ripple CTO David Schwartz has opined that Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, was once the issuer of the leading cryptocurrency.

"One could argue Satoshi was once Bitcoin’s issuer," the executive said.

The reasoning is based on the fact that Satoshi launched the network and mined the early blocks.

The Ripple CTO also pointed to the fact that Ethereum, the main altcoin by market cap, had an issuer during its presale.

Is Ripple "issuer" of XRP?

The comment was made amid a discussion about whether or not Ripple can be considered an issuer of XRP.

Schwartz has reframed the idea of an “issuer” away from who created the token to who supports and structures its financial ecosystem.

This means that the exchanges that provide markets for XRP could be viewed as the token's main issuers.

If one defines the term “issuer” narrowly (as in "who created the token?"), some might say Ripple could be considered the token's issuer. However, if one applies a broader definition, the company's role becomes substantially smaller.

XRP was "literally worthless"

Schwartz also noted that XRP was "literally worthless" at launch. In fact, the prominent Ripple executive was not even certain whether or not the ledger stream was going to continue.

This essentially means that there was no original intend to create an asset that would be marketable, and there was no trading ecosystem behind it.

Could Schwartz be Satoshi?

There has been some speculation that the architect behind XRP Ledger could be the man who started it all. As reported by U.Today, Schwartz previously denied that he is Satoshi.

The prominent Ripple executive claims that he first discovered Bitcoin back in 2011, which happened way after the launch of the original cryptocurrency.