[DigitalToday reporter Yoonseo Lee] David Schwartz (데이비드 슈워츠), Ripple's former chief technology officer (CTO), said he feels uncomfortable publicly showing optimism about XRP.

On May 7 local time, blockchain media outlet The Crypto Basic cited Schwartz as saying, "My comments could end up looking self-interested, or be interpreted as market manipulation."

The remarks came as a community participant asked Schwartz to use his influence to speak positively about XRP and its long-term outlook. Schwartz drew a line, saying he could hold an optimistic view of XRP, but actively broadcasting that view publicly is a separate matter.

The discussion also turned to Schwartz's investment style. He said cryptocurrency could still be a "once-in-a-generation opportunity," but added he is not used to taking extreme financial risks. He explained that unlike many investors who pride themselves on so-called "diamond hands," he sees it differently. Schwartz described himself as a "smart and cautious investor who can miss a big opportunity" and said, "That's okay."

Schwartz also reflected that avoiding excessive risk may have kept him from gaining much greater wealth. He added that, in reality, a significant portion of his cryptocurrency investments had been successful. That shows that although he was an early adopter of cryptocurrencies, he has chosen a conservative approach rather than aggressive bets.

In the process, his past sale of Ethereum at about $1.05 was raised again. Diana, a figure in the XRP community, pointed out that Schwartz would not have sold if he had viewed even slightly more highly the possibility that Ethereum could one day reach thousands of dollars. Schwartz replied that at the time he did not see the probability of Ethereum reaching that price range as high enough to justify holding it.

Using the same logic, Schwartz took a cautious stance on long-term price expectations for XRP. He has previously asked why major investors are not aggressively accumulating XRP if they seriously believe there is a realistic possibility it will reach $10,000 in the future. He said that if wealthy investors truly believed there was even a 1 percent chance XRP would reach that level within 10 years, the current price would already be much higher.

He also disclosed his holdings. Asked by X user Tom Toman whether he still held XRP, Schwartz replied that he no longer holds large crypto assets. He also said, "Except for Ripple stock, most of my assets are not digital currencies," adding that he previously held 26 million XRP, more than 1,000 bitcoin and 40,000 Ethereum, but now has less than 1 bitcoin and less than 2 Ethereum remaining.

He did not fully exit XRP, however. Schwartz said his "not much" XRP still totals more than 1 million. In absolute terms, that is still not a small amount, but it is a sharp drop compared with his past holdings.

Schwartz also defended his decision to sell some of his holdings over several years. He argued that an investor has no duty to hold assets indefinitely for others and can put his own financial interests first. "Everyone had the same opportunity to buy and sell XRP that I did," Schwartz said. "The idea that selling is somehow morally inferior to buying is utterly wrong."

He added that the freedom to decide for himself when to buy and sell was one reason he was drawn to the early bitcoin community. The remarks are read as showing not so much optimism about XRP itself as where an influential person should draw the line between public comments and personal investment judgment.

Everyone had the same opportunity to buy and sell XRP that I did. I did the same thing with bitcoin and ETH and nobody seems to have a problem with that. I utterly reject the idea that selling is somehow morally inferior to buying and have advocated that everyone sell when it's…