David Schwartz: In 2025, I Sold 2.5 Million XRP. Here’s why

David Schwartz who co-created the XRP Ledger also sold most of his XRP. The Ripple CTO Emeritus recently laid out exactly why, responding to critics who accused him of dumping the token on retail investors.

Schwartz held around 26 million XRP at his peak. By August 2026, that figure had fallen to roughly 2 million. He addressed the drawdown plainly on X: “I think I’m down from about 26 million at my peak to about 2 million now.” Some of that left through gifts and transfers. He sold the rest on the open market.

The Paper Trail

In 2025 alone, Schwartz sold approximately 2.5 million XRP. He posted his $1.7 million tax bill publicly to prove it. Most of those sales came from bonus compensation tied to his work in 2020 and 2023. The disclosure was a direct response to accusations that Ripple insiders were quietly offloading holdings at the community’s expense.

Major Reason for Sales and Regrets

Schwartz started selling when XRP was trading at $0.10. He admits he did not expect the price to ever reach $0.25. That same caution extended to other assets. He sold his entire 40,000 ETH position at $1.05. “Obviously, I wish I hadn’t done those things,” he said.

The decisions were not impulsive. Schwartz and his wife followed a fixed rule: sell a set portion of holdings each time the price hit a new all-time high. Comfort mattered more than maximising gains. Cashing out, he has said, let him “sleep better at night.”

He has been consistent about his relationship with risk. In a recent post, he wrote: “I am very uncomfortable with risk and have sold nearly all of the digital assets I’ve ever held.” He added that his Ripple stock position alone already carries more exposure than he wants.

Where His Net Worth Sits Now

Schwartz has moved the bulk of his savings into Ripple equity. The shares are illiquid and do not trade on public exchanges, but they tie his personal wealth to the company’s performance rather than daily token price swings.

He acknowledged the tension between his instincts and the math. “Nearly every risk I’ve taken in the crypto space has worked out well for me,” he wrote, “and I understand that logically I should take more risk. But I just can’t get comfortable with risk.”

For XRP holders who have watched the token rally, Schwartz’s story reads as a cautionary tale he wrote himself.