Vibhu Norby, the head of Product Marketing at the Solana Foundation, has publicly challenged Ripple executives and the XRP community to a live debate centered on verifiable on-chain data, aiming to address what he views as widespread misconceptions about network performance metrics.
Norby criticized the XRP community for ignoring data illustrating limited growth, noting that daily active accounts on the XRP Ledger have stagnated at around 25,000 over the last three years, while Solana boasts over 2.5 million daily active accounts.
He further highlighted transaction disparities, with the XRP Ledger processing approximately 1 million to 1.5 million transactions daily, compared to Solana's roughly 100 million daily transactions.
In terms of transfer volumes, XRP moves $50 billion to $60 billion monthly, whereas Solana's stablecoin transfer volume reached nearly $2 trillion in October, according to data cited by Norby.
The challenge, issued via social media on November 1, 2025, was accepted by former Ripple director Matt Hamilton, and it follows Western Union's launch of a USD-pegged stablecoin on Solana, underscoring rising institutional competition.
Market reactions included a $200 million inflow into Solana's spot ETF and $73.9 million in XRP ETF inflows, along with $3 billion in XRP futures trading, reflecting heightened investor interest and speculation.
Despite XRP's strong Q3 performance, closing at an all-time high of $2.85 with a 29% rise in market cap to $170.3 billion, it cooled in October, dropping 12% to around $2.50 amid broader market negativity.
Norby expressed optimism for Ripple and XRP's future but emphasized the need for data-driven discussions to foster industry progress, while analysts like Scott Melker questioned XRP's real-world utility, though defenders describe it as a neutral bridge for audits.
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