Ripple CTO Says It's "Nearly Impossible" to Avoid Selling XRP

David Schwartz, chief technology officer at Ripple Labs, has stated that it is "nearly impossible" to avoid selling XRP even if one wants to continue holding.

Earlier, he said that "everyone who holds a digital asset can sell it if they wish to."

Schwartz also previously explained the tax implications of receiving XRP from the company. For instance, if Schwartz were to be given a bonus of 1,000,000 XRP from Ripple, he would need to sell a substantial portion of this sum in order to cover the taxes owed on it. 

Taking into account both federal (Fed) and California (CA) state taxes, his marginal tax rate for earned income is around 50%.

Abandoning the XRP ecosystem  

His most recent comments came after Dev Null Productions announced their departure from the XRP ecosystem after contributing significantly for six years.

They cite the loss of faith in Ripple's leadership due to their decision to sell XRP at the expense of retail investors as a major reason. Additionally, they criticize the XRPL Foundation for prioritizing personal objectives over community interests.

As a result, their XRP-related projects like Ledger City will be discontinued, and associated domains will be allowed to expire.

They encourage the community to challenge what they see as "corrupt" leadership within Ripple and XRPLF. "Finally we just would like to say that there are no hard feelings and while we encourage the community to rise up against the corrupt leadership (both at Ripple and the XRPLF) which squandered an amazing opportunity for their own selfish gains," the post says.

What about AMM pools?

In a subsequent post on the X social media network, Schwartz also responded to a user who suggested putting XRP into AMM pools.

According to the executive, when you add XRP to an AMM pool, you have to provide another asset on the other side of the pool. This means that effectively half of the XRP would be sold because it would be paired with another asset.

Schwartz has also brought up the tax implications of using XRP in AMM pools. He believes that such a transaction would likely be considered a taxable event for Ripple.