- A 2018 Ripple internal email rekindles the claims that the company is behind the “Bitcoin is controlled by China” propaganda.
- Ripple boss Brad Garlinghouse is reported to have publicly confirmed this claim as the company also stated a similar position in its Wells Notice response to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2020.
Ripple emerges at the centre of another controversy as an intercepted internal email suggests the company was behind the promotion of the “China controls Bitcoin” propaganda.
Reviewing those emails, we found that an individual whose identity was hidden was asking if the team was willing to “put someone on the record” to call out Bitcoin and Ethereum. Meanwhile, another email dated 2018 indicated that the Ripple boss, Brad Garlinghouse had already made a public statement on this claim.
Ripple’s Previous Claims Against Bitcoin
Speaking at the 2018 Stifel Cross Sector Insight Conference in Boston, Garlinghouse disclosed that “Bitcoin is really controlled by China.” Shedding more light on this in an interview with Stifel Tech Analyst Lee Simpson, the Ripple boss highlighted that 50% of the Bitcoin supply was controlled by just four miners in China. Fascinating, he also dismissed the potential of the asset as he claimed only a few countries would want to use a Chinese-controlled currency.
I will tell you another story that is underreported, but worth paying attention to. Bitcoin is really controlled by China. There are four miners in China who control over 50% of Bitcoin. How do we know that China won’t intervene? How many countries want to use a Chinese-controlled currency? It’s just not going to happen.
At that time, Garlinghouse hinted that comparing Bitcoin to XRP is a mismatch as the former takes 45 minutes to settle transactions, whereas the latter takes just four seconds. After this, he also claimed that Chinese President Xi Jinping would only spend $1 million in Bitcoin to manipulate the blockchain for more gains, as discussed in our previous article.
The same claim also emerged in Ripple’s Wells Notice response to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In the document, Ripple alleged that both Bitcoin and Ethereum are highly susceptible to Chinese control since they are subject to simple majority rules.
Responding to this, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin pointed out that the Ripple team was “sinking to a new level of strangeness.”
Looks like the Ripple/XRP team is sinking to new levels of strangeness. They’re claiming that their shitcoin should not be called a security for public policy reasons, namely because Bitcoin and Ethereum are Chinese-controlled.
Garlinghouse Calling for Unity
Years down the line, Brad Garlinghouse seems to have changed his position. On multiple occasions, the Ripple boss has called for unity in the industry rather than “tearing each other down.” As mentioned in our previous news brief, Garlinghouse also believes that maximalists have been the enemy of crypto progress.
Some thoughts on maximalism… let me say this as clearly as I can – the crypto industry has a real shot, here and now, to achieve the many goals we have in common IF we work together instead of tearing each other down. This is not, and never will be, a zero-sum game.
Meanwhile, most Bitcoin enthusiasts seem not to have forgiven Garlinghouse as XRP’s Inclusion in the US crypto reserve was met with serious criticism. As indicated in our recent discussion, the co-founder of Satoshi Nakamoto Institute, Pierre Rochard, has labelled Ripple as a failed company seeking a government bailout.