XRP Rises as Ripple Co-Founder Arthur Britto Breaks 13-Year Silence with Cryptic Tweet

XRP surged over the weekend, when it was trading below US$1.93 (AU$2.97), jumping more than 12 % on a wave of renewed trading activity.

The token jumped to a local high of US$2.2 (AU$3.39), according to CoinGecko data, accompanied by a sharp trading volume, of over US$3.2B (AU$4.93B).

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The Ghost of XRP Makes a Comeback

Fueling the move was the quite unexpected reappearance of Arthur Britto, one of Ripple’s founding figures.

It’s been so long that people often forget that not only is he a founder at Ripple, but also a co-creator of the XRP Ledger (XRPL). He’s been virtually invisible for over a decade, like that friend that never participates in the group chat but is always observing.

Britto posted a single speechless emoji on Monday on his official X account, which was confirmed by Ripple’s CTO David Schwartz, who clarified that the post was legitimate and not the result of a hack. But, as expected, no further explanation followed. 

Britto helped build the XRP Ledger in 2012 alongside Schwartz and Jed McCaleb. 

Outside Ripple, Britto is listed as the founder and president of PolySign, a blockchain infrastructure firm focused on institutional custody. He also briefly appeared in Bitstamp’s corporate records between 2014 and 2015 as a director. 

His name also surfaces frequently In legal documents, including in the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs, which notes his role in creating XRP (but never implicates him directly).

Interestingly, in 2015, he sued Jed McCaleb, alleging breach of contract related to the launch of the Stellar Network. The lawsuit claimed McCaleb copied elements of Ripple’s codebase and violated internal agreements.

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