Former Ripple Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz has disclosed that he sold the overwhelming majority of his XRP holdings over time, reducing his position from about 26 million XRP at its peak to about 3 million XRP.
The decline represents a reduction of roughly 23 million XRP, or more than 88% from his peak holdings. Schwartz discussed the change on social media platform X, saying: "It's not a secret. I think I'm down from a high of around 26 million XRP to around 3 million XRP."
Bitcoin and Ether holdings also cut
Schwartz said he also reduced his Bitcoin holdings from about 1,500 BTC to 1 BTC, and his Ethereum holdings from about 40,000 ETH to 6 ETH. The report did not specify when he made the bulk of the sales or how much he received from them.
Taxes, sales plan and risk tolerance
Schwartz recently said he sold about 2.5 million XRP in 2025 alone. Most of those tokens were received in 2020 and 2023, according to his account, and he said he paid about $1.7 million in capital gains taxes on the sales.
He has repeatedly justified his crypto sales by citing an extremely low risk tolerance. In July, he said he and his wife decided to sell some of their crypto holdings whenever new all-time highs were reached. Most recently, he detailed a written sales plan set up with a lawyer at least 30 days before selling XRP. He has also said he has not been buying XRP for a long time.
Schwartz still holds a significant amount of Ripple stock, which he said leaves him exposed to more financial risk than he would ideally prefer.
XRP community frustration
The disclosure comes amid mounting frustration in the XRP community over the cryptocurrency's lackluster price performance. At the start of the month, an XRP holder asked whether Schwartz was somehow to blame for the token's downturn. Schwartz stressed that he probably had very little impact.
