Ripple's Chief Technology Officer Emeritus David Schwartz has publicly addressed and denied claims circulating on social media that attempted to link Ripple and Stellar to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. The discussion was prompted by the U.S. Department of Justice's release of millions of new files related to Epstein on Friday, January 31, 2026.
Schwartz responded directly to a user's claim that "Ripple and Stellar are in the Epstein emails," stating, "I don't know of any connections between Jeffrey Epstein and Ripple, XRP, or Stellar. I know of any evidence anyone at Ripple or Stellar ever met with Epstein or anyone closely connected to him." He acknowledged some indirect ties between Epstein and individuals connected to Bitcoin but noted this was unsurprising given Epstein's proximity to extremely wealthy figures across industries.
Separately, newly resurfaced documents from the Epstein files have shed light on aggressive early industry tribalism. A 2014 email chain analyzed by Schwartz reveals that high-profile investors were pressured to view supporters of XRP and Stellar (XLM) as threats to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
The controversy stems from an email dated July 31, 2014, sent by entrepreneur Austin Hill to investors including Reid Hoffman, Joichi Ito, and Jeffrey Epstein. Titled "Stellar isn't so Stellar," Hill urged the investors to reconsider their support for projects led by Jed McCaleb, co-founder of both Ripple and Stellar. Hill wrote, "Ripple, and Jed's new stellar are bad for the ecosystem we are building, and it does our company damage to have investors who are backing two horses in the same race." He requested that investors "reduce or take your allocation away" from Blockstream if they continued to support Ripple or Stellar, forcing them to "pick a horse."
Schwartz commented on the divisive attitude, stating, "The sad part is, we really are all in this together, and this kind of attitude hurts everyone in the space." The conversation also touched on Ripple's business structure, with Schwartz reflecting on early internal debates about adopting a non-profit model, which he initially opposed as potentially misleading.
