David Schwartz made a trade years ago where he sold 40,000 Ethereum tokens for just over a dollar each, earning him $42,000. Today, those same tokens would be worth around $94 million.
A Pattern Of Early Exits
This wasn’t a single transaction. Michael Schwartz, who used to be Ripple‘s chief technology officer, once owned over 1,000 Bitcoin. He initially sold most of it when each coin was worth around $1,000, and later sold the rest for about $7,500 per coin.
He currently owns less than one Bitcoin. He had a similar experience with XRP, selling the majority of it when the price reached $0.10 because he didn’t think it would go any higher than $0.25.
These revelations have sparked concern within the XRP community, with some people suggesting his past sales of XRP demonstrate questionable decision-making.
Criticism increased recently after Schwartz publicly doubted whether XRP could ever hit ambitious price goals of $100 or $10,000 – targets many in the XRP community believe are achievable.
Like everyone else, I was able to buy and sell XRP. I’ve done the same with Bitcoin and Ethereum, and no one has questioned those transactions. I strongly disagree with the idea that selling is unethical, and I’ve always encouraged people to sell when they feel it’s the right time.
— David ‘JoelKatz’ Schwartz (@JoelKatz) May 5, 2026
What Schwartz Actually Said
He responded on X, clarifying that selling an asset doesn’t mean someone is less dedicated or to blame.
Schwartz argues that he had the same opportunities to trade XRP as any other investor. He points out that he used a similar strategy with Bitcoin and Ethereum, but those sales didn’t cause the same negative reaction.

Schwartz has consistently maintained that people are justified in selling assets when it’s financially advantageous for them. He’s said this belief originated during his time in the early Bitcoin community, where it was a core part of the culture that initially attracted him.
A community member suggested that developers should be required to keep the digital tokens associated with their projects. However, David Schwartz strongly disagreed, stating that this idea doesn’t make sense. He did mention that he personally still owns over 1 million XRP.
The $10,000 Question
Regarding the discussion about XRP’s price, Schwartz suggested looking at it from a market perspective. He explained that if major investors genuinely thought there was a reasonable chance of XRP reaching $10,000, they would have already invested heavily. This increased demand, he believes, would have driven the price up to at least $20 by now.
Some people in the community are doubtful. They remember his previous hesitation about XRP reaching $0.25 – a price it has now exceeded – and that makes them question his current predictions for how high the price could go.
Schwartz has not walked back his position.
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2026-05-06 13:53