Some members of the crypto community are accusing Ripple, the company behind XRP, of falsely claiming that its native token XRP is decentralized and permissionless. Justin Bons, founder of Cyber Capital, claims to have found evidence that Ripple has de facto control over the entire network.
Bons pointed out that XRP’s consensus algorithm, Unique Node Lists (UNLs), is based on a list of trusted nodes that centralized parties, including the Ripple Foundation, release. Nodes not on these lists are untrusted and do not participate in consensus. He concluded that “XRP is not trustless,” adding that choosing who to trust is not the same as trustlessness. Furthermore, Bons argues that XRP’s lack of block rewards and incentives makes it difficult for new validators to coordinate, which “gives the Ripple Foundation even more control over the network.”
On the other hand, David Schwartz, Ripple’s chief technology officer, clarified that validators do not have control over transaction inclusion. “They solve the double spend problem, so they can choose which of two equally-valid but conflicting transactions is included.”
The XRP community has had mixed reactions to Bons’ claims. The post Crypto Community Accuses Ripple XRP of False Decentralization Claims appeared first on Coin Edition.
