A fresh dispute has broken out in the crypto world, sparked by pointed remarks from Custodia Bank’s Caitlin Long about Ripple, the XRP Ledger, and its recently launched RLUSD stablecoin.
What began as a segment on a podcast has now escalated into a public exchange involving Ripple’s top technologist and vocal members of the XRP community.
In her appearance on the Gold Goats ‘n Guns podcast, Long argued that XRP has never fully lived up to its early vision as a bridge currency for the banking sector. She claimed the network’s structure and Ripple’s early approach to funding had left lingering doubts among major institutions. According to her, the decision to issue RLUSD through Ripple’s own regulated companies reflects a pivot away from relying solely on the XRPL for global settlement.
Long also looked ahead, speculating that if the U.S. Treasury were to choose a blockchain for tokenizing Treasury bills, Ethereum would be the likely pick over Ripple — citing Ethereum’s more established adoption and technological maturity.
Her remarks didn’t sit well with long-time XRP supporter Vet, who responded on social media with a detailed counterargument. Vet insisted that XRP’s launch bore no resemblance to an ICO, explaining that all 100 billion tokens were created in the genesis ledger with no initial market value. He also pushed back on the decentralization critique, noting that the XRPL is maintained by over a thousand nodes and more than a hundred independent validators worldwide.
Vet further contrasted XRP’s origins with Ethereum’s, pointing out that Ethereum’s launch involved an ICO. He highlighted Ripple’s ongoing use of XRPL in its payment systems, the fact that RLUSD is issued directly on the ledger, and XRPL’s pioneering features like its native decentralized exchange and built-in tokenization tools.
Amid the back-and-forth, Ripple CTO David Schwartz entered the conversation, acknowledging that Vet had already addressed several points but suggesting that a direct dialogue with Long could help clear the air. He publicly invited her to an open, fact-based discussion covering Ripple’s technology, RLUSD’s purpose, and the XRPL’s role in the broader blockchain landscape.
Whether Long accepts the invitation remains to be seen, but the exchange has already drawn significant attention — not just for the criticism itself, but for the willingness of Ripple’s leadership to engage openly in the debate.
