David Schwartz, chief technology officer at Ripple, has predicted that Bitcoin will likely remain the number one cryptocurrency "for a long time."
Schwartz has explained that the value of money comes rather from network effects than the technology behind it.
However, when asked to define a specific time frame, Schwarz did not rule out that things could change "overnight."
"I tend to think 3-5 years, but sometimes things seem to take forever and sometimes they seem to change overnight," he added.
Out-of-control feud
The prediction comes amid an escalating feud between some of the leading pro-Bitcoin voices and the XRP community.
As reported by U.Today, Pierre Rochard, vice president at prominent Bitcoin mining platform Riot Platforms, recently accused Ripple of being the main obstacle to the introduction of a strategic Bitcoin reserve. While pushing back on this criticism, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse seemingly confirmed that his company was advocating for establishing a multi-token reserve, which is something that wouldn't sit well with Bitcoin maximalists.
Prominent pro-Bitcoin entrepreneur Jack Mallers went as far as claiming that Ripple is undermining "American prosperity and freedom" with its alleged lobbying efforts that are supposedly aimed at stopping a Bitcoin-only cryptocurrency reserve. "Ripple is a for-profit company. It prints its own token…And it is asking the U.S. government to support its monopoly," he added.
As reported by U.Today, Garlinghouse recently stated that Ripple now owns more than $100 billion worth of XRP.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov