{"id":16960,"date":"2025-03-10T10:01:43","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T10:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=16960"},"modified":"2025-03-10T10:01:43","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T10:01:43","slug":"internal-ripple-emails-expose-anti-bitcoin-smear-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=16960","title":{"rendered":"Internal Ripple Emails Expose Anti-Bitcoin Smear Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Internal Ripple emails from 2018\u2014submitted in the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit over alleged unregistered securities sales\u2014have resurfaced. These documents show that Ripple executives and staff actively discussed promoting the narrative that Bitcoin is \u201ccontrolled by China,\u201d a claim often referred to as \u201cChina FUD\u201d (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt).<\/p>\n

How Ripple Directed The Bitcoin \u201cChina FUD\u201d<\/h2>\n

One of the cited emails<\/a>, labeled \u201c4) China + Bitcoin,\u201d contains the following directive: \u201cThis feels similar to what Brad and [Redacted] already say publicly about Bitcoin being run by China.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another segment outlines a plan to produce an \u201cinsights post\u201d contrasting XRP with other cryptocurrencies:\u201c We could pitch this out as it would get a ton of play as \u2018Ripple\u2019s Response to [Redacted].\u2019 Note: This feels like it would run opposite to our current promotion efforts around exchanges. As of right now, we have told all current or future exchanges that we are not able to provide promotion help.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to these strategic notes, email exchanges among Ripple staff dated July 16, 2018, suggest a detailed, ongoing conversation about how best to frame Bitcoin\u2019s perceived centralization issues. One staff member wrote: \u201cHow is the bitcoin\/china story different than the one we are already working on with [Redacted]? Are we willing to put someone on the record now to specifically call out bitcoin and ethereum?\u201d<\/p>\n

A [Redacted] staffer then proposed a meeting: \u201cCan we all circle up sometime today to discuss next steps?\u201d The emails underscore that \u201cChina + Bitcoin\u201d was an internal talking point at Ripple, seemingly aimed at highlighting Bitcoin\u2019s alleged vulnerabilities tied to Chinese mining pools in order to promote XRP as \u201cdecentralized\u201d.<\/p>\n

These newly surfaced emails come shortly after US President Donald Trump announced<\/a> the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Notably, leaks have revealed that Ripple opposed a \u201cBitcoin-only\u201d strategy, lobbying for a more diversified approach that would include XRP, Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA). Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse reportedly met with the Trump administration to advocate for broader inclusion of digital assets.<\/p>\n

Publicly, Ripple\u2019s lobbying efforts have been positioned as part of a campaign to shape crypto-friendly regulations. However, critics assert that Ripple\u2019s behind-the-scenes work\u2014evidenced by the leaked emails\u2014took on a distinctly anti-Bitcoin tone.<\/p>\n

Critics quickly seized upon an October 9, 2018 tweet from Ripple CTO David \u201cJoelKatz\u201d Schwartz (@JoelKatz), which stated: \u201cA new study shows China controls 74% of bitcoin. Does that sound decentralized to you?\u201d
\nAccording to critics, this tweet closely aligns with the July 2018 email discussions, suggesting a concerted PR strategy to depict Bitcoin as centralized.<\/p>\n

Longtime XRP skeptic Pierre Rochard, VP of Research at Riot Platforms, Inc., responded<\/a> on X: \u201cI don\u2019t respect David Schwartz, Ripple, or XRP. For the past decade their marketing strategy to hype their pre-mined altcoin has been to buy and promote anti-bitcoin disinformation while pretending that banks want to use XRP (they don\u2019t). They\u2019ll say and do anything to advance their centralized garbage \u2018technology\u2019 that has zero utility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rochard also added: \u201cBrad Garlinghouse did his best to smear Bitcoin as bad for the environment and controlled by China. Disinformation. The truth won, he lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ripple\u2019s Long History Of Anti-Bitcoin Marketing<\/h2>\n

Remarkably, Ripple has a long history of attacking Bitcoin. Ripple\u2019s co-founder and executive chairman, Chris Larsen, has been a vocal advocate for shifting Bitcoin\u2019s consensus mechanism from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS). In March 2022, Larsen personally funded<\/a> a $5 million Greenpeace USA campaign called \u201cChange the Code,\u201d aimed at pressuring Bitcoin developers and prominent industry figures to alter Bitcoin\u2019s mining protocol.<\/p>\n

Despite high-profile advertising and an attention-grabbing art installation by Benjamin Von Wong\u2014the \u201cSkull of Satoshi\u201d\u2014the campaign backfired spectacularly. Bitcoiners embraced it as \u201cbadass,\u201d co-opting it as a mascot. On March 25, 2023, Von Wong posted<\/a> a Twitter thread admitting he\u2019d been \u201cwrong\u201d to view Bitcoin\u2019s environmental impact as a \u201cblack-and-white issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

After engaging with Bitcoin advocates online, he acknowledged that mining\u2019s energy dynamics were complex\u2014PoW could drive renewable adoption rather than just harm the planet. He shifted from advocating a code change to suggesting Bitcoiners \u201cwork within the system\u201d to green the network, a notable pivot from the campaign\u2019s original intent. Greenpeace, however, doubled down, continuing to tour the skull to push its message, despite Von Wong\u2019s softened rhetoric.<\/p>\n

At press time, BTC traded at $81,593.<\/p>\n

\"Bitcoin<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Internal Ripple emails from 2018\u2014submitted in the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit over alleged unregistered securities sales\u2014have resurfaced. These documents show that Ripple executives and staff actively discussed promoting the narrative that Bitcoin is \u201ccontrolled by China,\u201d a claim often referred to as \u201cChina FUD\u201d (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt). How Ripple Directed The Bitcoin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-16960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16960\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}