Ripple CEO, Brad Garlinghouse is a confirmed keynote speaker at this year’s DC Fintech Week. Although the agenda precludes XRP price, many see this as a further opportunity for Garlinghouse to address concerns over XRP dumping, which some attribute to price stagnation in the divisive token.
Will Garlinghouse Address The Issue Of Ripple Dumping XRP?
Thought leaders and attendees will gather in Washington DC on October 21-24 to deliberate all matters fintech. This year’s event includes notable industry movers and shakers, such as SEC Chair, Jay Clayton and ConsenSys founder, Joe Lubin. But none more prominent than Brad Garlinghouse.
Garlinghouse recently took to Twitter to address concerns over Ripple’s quarterly sales of XRP, which some believe is the cause of poor price performance this year. He defended the sales by saying:
“XRP sales are about helping expand XRP’s utility – building RippleNet & supporting other biz building w/XRP ie Dharma & Forte. Reality is we DECREASED our sales by volume Q/Q and since then the inflation rate of XRP circulating supply has been lower than that of BTC and ETH.”
2/ XRP sales are about helping expand XRP’s utility – building RippleNet & supporting other biz building w/XRP ie Dharma & Forte. Reality is we DECREASED our sales by volume Q/Q and since then the inflation rate of XRP circulating supply has been lower than that of BTC and ETH.
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) August 27, 2019
Consequently, in response, XRP bag holders did not hold back in venting their frustrations. Many accused Garlinghouse of doublespeak wordplay, while others called Ripple out as a pump and dump.
As such, Garlinghouse has the opportunity, at DC Fintech Week, to settle apprehensions within the community.
So @bgarlinghouse how do you explain this: “Co-founder Jed McCaleb, who is no longer at Ripple, alone sells 500,000 XRP daily, according to Coin Metrics.” You don’t call this dumping and lining pockets?? If not, what do you call it? What is exactly going on? Just curious.
— BloodyBlu (@BloodyBluBlog) August 28, 2019
At present, XRP is the fifth worst-performing of the top ten, with a -9% loss YTD. And while this pales in comparison to Bitcoin Cash, which has seen a -38% dip this year, the XRP Army are still up in arms over the token’s faltering performance.
The Bag Holders Are Revolting
To address this, high profile analyst, Crypto_Bitlord, earlier this month, launched a change.org petition to “Stop Ripple Dumping.” At time of press, over 3,500 people have signed the petition, which seeks to rally community support to stop the mass sale of XRP.
The petition summarizes the primary concern within the XRP community, namely, the continual slide in price despite XRP being touted as the most practical token within the space. It reads:
“Everyday there is good news… A new bank or partnership announced but still, it manages to keep on dumping. The only logical explanation is that Ripple are dumping on us. And not small amounts either. Literally billions. We have seen the reports of them disclosing this so its a fact.”
And that’s not all; such is the strength of feeling, Crypto_Bitlord also proposed an XRP fork, to snatch control from Ripple and stop the mass dumpings.
I’m thinking about forking $XRP so we don’t have to deal with the founders dumping.
-This will be a community effort.
Retweet if you’re in 🚀🚀🚀
— CRYPTO BITLORD (@Crypto_Bitlord) August 26, 2019
But in reality, as XRP’s allure is based on Ripple’s efforts to onboard partnerships and promote the benefits of the ecosystem, a community fork is nonsensical.
All the same, whether Crypto_Bitlord was joking, or not, his call to fork XRP was met with a tide of aggression. And, in what can only be called a demonstration of loyalty to Ripple, threats to his life were made.
Sadly taking some time off twitter…
Received numerous death threats over the $XRP fork and I’m continuing to get personal attacks over my past.
To those having a good time, thanks for the support and I’ll see you soon 🙏
— CRYPTO BITLORD (@Crypto_Bitlord) August 28, 2019
Undoubtedly, XRP’s price performance raises serious questions of viability, from a retail point of view. Having said that, at the present time, this argument could be extended to include most altcoins. Can Garlinghouse do anything to allay these concerns?