Ripple’s major sponsorship deal with the University of Kansas sports programme has spread community debate around XRP after the company decided to display the XRP logo on players’ uniforms, blockchain outlet U.Today reported on Tuesday.

A Chainlink community figure criticised the sponsorship as an example showing a gap between corporate business and token marketing, while XRP supporters pushed back, calling it no more than a rival project’s attempt to keep XRP in check. Zach Rynes (잭 라이네스), known as a Chainlink community lead, said Ripple’s recent sports marketing strategy did not match its corporate business model.

The controversy began after Ripple recently signed a five-year sports sponsorship deal with the University of Kansas Jayhawks football and basketball programmes. Under the agreement, the XRP logo will be prominently displayed on players’ uniforms.

Ripple Chief Executive Brad Garlinghouse (브래드 갈링하우스) wrote on his social media shortly after the announcement that the deal was a "rare moment where professional and personal worlds meet," attaching significance to it.

Rynes argued that a sports sponsorship was not connected to Ripple’s business strategy, citing that Ripple’s core customers are financial institutions. He criticised the decision to display the XRP logo on college sports uniforms as not logical if Ripple is a company that provides payments infrastructure and financial technology to banks and financial institutions. He said a company targeting institutional clients focusing on sports marketing aimed at retail investors shows that its corporate business and token promotion are separated. He even described Ripple as being in the business of selling a pre-minted "bank-themed memecoin" to the retail market.

His criticism also extended to Ripple’s revenue structure. Rynes said Ripple effectively runs a business model of selling pre-minted XRP to individual investors. He said XRP is used to fund acquisitions and share buybacks, and that under such a structure corporate shareholders could gain bigger benefits while token holders could be placed in a relatively disadvantageous position.

He also said the financial value of Ripple’s large escrow holdings is closely tied to the company’s valuation, and that XRP holdings have a bigger impact on corporate value than its software business.

The XRP community immediately pushed back. Some XRP supporters countered that Rynes’ remarks were criticism arising from competitive dynamics between Chainlink and XRP. They pointed to Chainlink having once been seen as one of the major altcoins but now falling in market capitalisation rankings, and said attacks targeting XRP were being repeated.

The dispute is expanding beyond a simple sports sponsorship into an existing debate over Ripple’s business model and XRP’s role, and there is a possibility that a war of nerves between the XRP community and backers of rival projects will continue.

Haven’t heard a Zach rant against XRP since Link was in 11th spot on market cap on its way to thè flippening https://t.co/Fbin0mH6BB