Former Ripple Director Refutes Claim That XRP Ledger Is Closed to Other Developers

A former Director of Developer Relations at Ripple has countered a claim that the XRP Ledger (XRPL) is closed to developers from other networks.

Injective Labs CEO Claims XRPL is Centralized

Recently, Cointelegraph published an opinion piece from Eric Chen, the CEO of Injective Labs. Chen argued that Ripple’s chances of success will be much greater if it becomes “open to developers from other blockchains.”

In the piece, Chen first cited that Ripple’s ambition was to revolutionize cross-border payments by replacing the SWIFT system. He added Ripple aimed to introduce a more efficient payment process that eliminates the constraints of holiday and weekend delays.

According to Chen, the ambitious goal led Ripple to embark on the formidable mission of building an entire system from the ground up. He further claimed Ripple encountered unexpected complexities that forced it to revise its initial estimations and make necessary adjustments.

Moreover, the Injective Labs CEO alleged that a more centralized system was one of the compromises Ripple settled for. He argued Ripple departed from the decentralized nature of many other blockchain projects.

According to Chen, while the decision initially favored Ripple, it inadvertently discouraged participation from the broader crypto developer community.

In his words:

“The centralized structure also naturally led to the creation of a closed system, which inherently prevented Ripple from building an indispensable, application-layer foundation.”

Ripple Developer Reacts

Meanwhile, Matt Hamilton, Protocol Labs’ principal developer advocate and a former Ripple engineer, shared a counter perspective to the claim. Hamilton particularly provided insights into the XRP Ledger (XRPL)’s longstanding history as an open system.

According to Hamilton, XRPL has maintained its open nature for over a decade, allowing third parties to build on it without restrictions. He believes the openness fostered a collaborative environment encouraging contributions from the broader crypto development community.

“The XRP Ledger has been an open system for over a decade. 3rd parties have been able to freely build on it all this time,” Hamilton remarked.

The XRP Ledger has been an open system for over a decade. 3rd parties have been able to freely build on it all this time.

— Matt Hamilton (@HammerToe) September 13, 2023

Furthermore, the prominent developer called on Chen to fix the misrepresentation in the published article. Some proponents also noted that the XRPL have been open for development from other developers besides Ripple since inception.

Moreover, XRP community members expressed that the opinionated article proves that some industry participants are yet to understand the differences among the XRP entities Ripple, XRPL, and RippleNet.

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