[Digital Today reporter Jinju Hong] David Schwartz (데이비드 슈워츠), Ripple's CTO emeritus, responded in a poem to a social media user who downplayed his role, explaining his XRP Ledger (XRPL) development record and expertise in the cryptocurrency field.

On June 9, blockchain outlet U.Today reported that Schwartz recently posted a long, verse-form text on X after responding to a user's reaction that took issue with his self-description as "CTO emeritus".

In the post, he described himself as "the very model of a CTO emeritus who created a remarkably impervious ledger," stressing that he was a key developer involved in designing the XRP Ledger.

Schwartz wrote that he has a deep understanding of cryptographic technologies such as hash functions and Merkle trees, as well as transaction structure and network design. This is seen as indirectly showing that he is a co-designer of the XRP Ledger and an early key figure at Ripple.

He said he also has expertise in payment infrastructure, digital asset custody services, stablecoins and liquidity provision structures. He wrote that he can talk endlessly about decentralised exchanges (DEX) and can explain automated market makers (AMM) to children, friends and family, underscoring his understanding of the broader crypto industry. He then broadened the topic to derivatives, tokenisation and bridge security issues.

Schwartz wrote that he can endlessly debate whether all innovations provide real utility, showing his view that prioritises practical use value over technical fads. He also said he understands why some structures fail even with security measures and why bridge systems can become vulnerable, pointing to security incidents that have repeatedly occurred in the crypto industry.

The industry is evaluating the post as an example that compactly shows Schwartz's cryptocurrency career spanning more than 15 years.

In the post, he wrote that he has explained the details of cryptocurrencies for decades, directly referring to his experience. Schwartz is known as a figure who began developing the XRP Ledger in 2011 with Jed McCaleb and Arthur Britto.

At the time, the developers set out to build a new ledger system to overcome bitcoin's technical limitations and create a digital asset network optimised for payments. The XRP Ledger was first released in June 2012. Later that year, after Chris Larsen joined, Schwartz, McCaleb and Britto founded NewCoin. NewCoin later changed its name to OpenCoin and evolved into what is now Ripple.

Schwartz is an early designer of the XRP Ledger and has been with the company since the early days of Ripple's founding. He first joined OpenCoin as chief cryptographer and became CTO in 2018. He stepped down as CTO in late 2025 and continues his activities in the role of CTO emeritus.

The industry sees the remarks as showing that Schwartz still occupies an important place in the XRP Ledger's technical identity and history even after his title change. In particular, assessments say he again stressed that he is not merely an honorary titleholder but an XRP Ledger designer and technical explainer by packing key crypto industry topics into a single piece of writing, including payments, stablecoins, decentralised exchanges, automated market makers and bridge security.

I am the very model of a CTO emeritus, Creator of a ledger that's remarkably impervious. I know the cryptographic tricks from hashes onto Merkle trees, And quote transaction figures all with a practiced ease. I'm very well acquainted, too, with payment rails and custody, I…