Ripple has confirmed a significant leadership transition as its longtime Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz, has officially stepped down from his executive role. The company announced that Schwartz ended his day-to-day duties at the close of December 2025, concluding a thirteen-year tenure with the firm. He has assumed the title of CTO Emeritus and will join Ripple's board of directors, allowing him to remain engaged at a strategic level while providing ongoing consultation.
Schwartz was a pivotal figure in Ripple's technical development, directing the company's global engineering teams and technical strategy. He was a major contributor to building Ripple's cross-border payment infrastructure and, crucially, is recognized as a co-architect of the XRP Ledger. For over a decade, his work shaped the ledger's fundamental architecture and technical direction, impacting both Ripple's enterprise products and broader blockchain adoption.
The transition was pre-announced by Schwartz in October 2025, where he cited personal priorities, a desire for more family time, and a return to long-held hobbies as motivations. "The time has come for me to step back from my day-to-day duties as Ripple CTO at the end of this year," he stated at the time. In a social media post on September 30, 2025, Schwartz reflected on his career journey, from consulting for the NSA to coding the XRP Ledger with founders Arthur, Jed, and Chris.
Ripple has named Dennis Jarosch, previously Senior Vice President of Engineering, to lead the company's technology organization. The company described the shift as a planned succession. CEO Brad Garlinghouse publicly credited Schwartz with forging Ripple's technology culture, sentiments echoed by other executives.
Despite stepping back from operational leadership, Schwartz has signaled he is not retiring from development work. He plans to devote more time to practical activity within the XRP Ledger ecosystem, including research on technical advancements and experimental applications. He has also expressed interest in the expansion of XRP applications beyond Ripple's core business, focusing on independent ecosystem development like developer services and alternative payment models. Additionally, Schwartz has recently taken on an advisory role at Evernorth, separate from his emeritus status at Ripple.
