Decentralization has long been a subject of debate for Ripple and its XRP (XRP) token. The issue with Ripple is that, as a business, they possess a significant quantity of XRP and have historically retained a series of verification nodes within XRP ledger, questioning the authenticity of Ripple’s XRP decentralization. The XRP Ledger has now become increasingly decentralized over the past few weeks as a result of node migration. That is now a sentiment echoed by David Schwartz, Ripple’s CTO (Chief Technology Officer).
XRP Ledger is fully decentralized now, according to Ripple’s CTO
In “The Inherently Decentralised Nature of XRP Ledger,” the Ripple’s latest report on this matter, David Schwartz, Ripple’s CTO, claims that the XRP Ledger is fully decentralized via the Ripple’s consensus protocol.
“The XRP Ledger uses a consensus protocol that relies on a majority of validators to record and verify transactions without any incentive to either party. Validators are different from miners because they are not paid when they order and validate transactions. Today, these validators operate in locations around the world and are managed by a wide range of people, institutions, asset exchanges and more. In short, the XRP Ledger is based on an inherently decentralized and democratic consensus mechanism that no party can control,” stated David Schwartz, Ripple’s CTO.
Ripple controls only 7% of the XRP (XRP) network, says David Schwarz
David Schwartz continued by comparing the situation of the XRP (XRP) network’s validators with those of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) networks. According to him, 58% of the Bitcoin network is controlled by only four mining pools, while only three mining pools control about 57% of the Ethereum network. On the other hand, Ripple only controls 7% of the XRP Ledger.
Taking all this into account, it looks like the XRP Ledger is currently fully decentralized, which is an excellent news for Ripple and XRP (XRP).