Former Ripple CTO David Schwartz pushed back against claims that XRP could reach $10,000, saying the market itself already shows how unrealistic such extreme price targets are. In a discussion on X, Schwartz framed the issue less as a debate about belief and more as a question of smart money management: if sophisticated investors truly saw even a small chance of that outcome, why hasn’t XRP already been priced much higher?
Schwartz Responds to XRP Moonshot Claims
The conversation started when an X user asked Schwartz to comment on theories based on a crypto version of Chris Burniske’s Price = PQ / (V × S) model, which some XRP supporters have used to argue for a possible $10,000 XRP. Schwartz gave a simple market-based response.
“If there were a few very rich, very rational people who really believed there was a 1% chance that XRP could hit $10K in 10 years, they’d bid XRP up to at least $20 today,” Schwartz wrote. “Why aren’t they? Conspiracy?”
The point wasn’t just that $10,000 is a huge number. Schwartz’s argument was that if such a target seemed credible to rational, well-funded investors, they wouldn’t just wait around. Even giving only a small chance to a massive future price would, in his view, be enough to justify aggressive buying at much higher levels than the current market supports.
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That answer directly challenged one of the common assumptions behind ultra-bullish XRP forecasts: that the market hasn’t accounted for future institutional use, settlement demand, or some hidden strategy by Ripple. Schwartz’s response suggested that markets may not be perfect, but they aren’t so slow that major pools of capital would ignore such a big opportunity if they thought it was even remotely possible.
The debate then moved to another familiar claim in XRP circles: that Ripple itself could use its own products, like Ripple Prime or treasury-related flows, to push the asset much higher. One user asked why Ripple wouldn’t “use their own stuff” through those channels and suggested it could drive XRP above $100.
Schwartz rejected the idea that Ripple still has some unused tool that could massively boost XRP’s price on demand. “Maybe there was one time when you could semi-plausibly argue that Ripple had some easy way to shoot up the price of XRP massively for good but was just waiting for the right time to maximize something or other,” he wrote. “But boy, it’s hard to argue that today. For one thing, circumstances have changed so much that it’s hard to imagine we’ve held onto this magic switch for so long and it’s still just waiting to go.”
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He added that Ripple has already explained its strategy, even if the company doesn’t share every internal detail. “We’ve explained what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and what we hope to achieve,” Schwartz wrote. “While we aren’t transparent about everything, we’re not hiding some grand conspiracy. At least not as far as I know.”
Another user argued that wealthy investors often focus on preserving wealth rather than taking high-risk bets. Schwartz countered that this misunderstands how large pools of capital usually work. “The way rich people preserve wealth is by taking bigger risks than other people can stand to take,” he replied.
The exchange continued when another user suggested that very wealthy buyers would accumulate XRP over the counter rather than on centralized exchanges, limiting visible price impact. Schwartz agreed that could be true at first, but argued it wouldn’t change the bigger picture. “At first,” he wrote. “But they wouldn’t stop until they had moved the price or run out of money.”
At press time, XRP traded at $1.3749.Image created with DALL·E, chart from TradingView.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs about David Schwartz questioning the 10000 XRP theory written in a natural conversational tone with clear answers
BeginnerLevel Questions
Q Who is David Schwartz
A Hes the Chief Technology Officer at Ripple and one of the original architects of the XRP Ledger Hes basically the top technical expert on how XRP works
Q What is the 10000 XRP theory
A Its a popular idea among some XRP investors that the price of one XRP will eventually reach 10000 or more They often base this on the idea that XRP will replace the SWIFT banking system for global payments
Q Did David Schwartz say XRP will never hit 10000
A No he didnt say its impossible He simply asked a very practical question If XRP is worth 10000 who would use it for payments His point is that banks need to move millions of dollars cheaply If one XRP costs 10000 sending even a small payment would require fractions of a coin which defeats the purpose of using it as a bridge currency
Q Why does David Schwartzs question matter
A Because hes the guy who helped build the system If the creator of the technology says a core assumption might be flawed its worth paying attention to It forces people to think about realworld utility not just price speculation
IntermediateLevel Questions
Q What is the main flaw David Schwartz sees in the 10000 price target
A The main flaw is usability XRP is designed to be a fast cheap bridge for large value transfers If the price is astronomically high the ledger would need to handle extremely small decimal places to move a few dollars That creates technical friction and defeats the purpose of a simple scalable payment system
Q Doesnt a higher price just mean XRP is more valuable