Anthony Georgiades, founder and general partner at Innovating Capital, discussed concerns surrounding Ripple and its native token, XRP, particularly regarding the centralized aspects of the XRP Ledger. In an interview with Yahoo Finance, he explained that XRP operates on a decentralized ledger, but in practice, Ripple Labs holds major control over it. Ripple Labs is responsible for selecting a list of validators who process transactions, and most users rely on Ripple’s default node list.
Georgiades pointed out that this centralization weakens XRP’s position as a truly decentralized asset, and he believes it could be vulnerable to regulatory overreach. Governments could exert control over transactions by targeting specific institutions or geographical regions, which could fragment the network. This could lead to a breakdown of trust, network forks, and a loss of value, ultimately questioning the token’s purpose and competitiveness in comparison to centralized systems.
“I see the downside less in terms of impacting Bitcoin in particular and more pertaining to other altcoins, specifically Ripple. There’s a lot of positive sentiment in the market for Ripple right now and a lot of excitement around Ripple is because of a potential strategic Reserve. But I see a lot of fundamental flaws in XRP in particular, and honestly view a strategic Reserve backed by Ripple as being the demise of the network itself for a number of reasons,” he said. (SIC)
In addition, Georgiades shared his view on Bitcoin’s recent market movements. He believes the market has already priced in several positive catalysts, such as potential regulatory changes and the possibility of Bitcoin becoming a reserve asset. However, he said that it will take years for any fundamental changes to fully impact the market.
