Ripple News: Is XRP a Scam or Just Growing Pains? Ripple CTO Defends

A famous blockchain researcher, Aylo referred to XRP as the "biggest financial scam" because of its low trading volume (TV) on decentralized exchanges. This sparked a heated debate in the crypto community. In response, Ripple's CTO, David Schwartz, defended the altcoin and offered his perspective.

Aylo, a researcher from Alpha Please, recently criticized XRP in a post on X . He highlighted that the XRP Ledger had just $44k in TV on decentralized exchanges within 24 hours, even though it has a large market cap. Aylo raised the questioned of XRPs true value and its real use in the crypto space due to this low trading volume.

He also highlighted that the Total Value Locked on the XRPL stood at just $80.63 million, far less than other major blockchains like Ethereum and Solana. Aylo's criticism seemed to cast doubt on the utility of the altcoin , especially when considering its huge market cap of $140 billion, according to DefiLlama.

Ripple's CTO Responds

David Schwartz, Ripple's CTO, defended the altcoin saying, Aylo’s stats only looked at Automated Market Makers (AMMs) on the XRPL. He explained that AMMs don’t show the whole picture and are just a small part of the network’s total trading activity.

Schwartz pointed out, the $44,000 in TV doesn’t truly reflect XRP’s usefulness. He explained that the AMM feature was only added in March 2024, ten years after the blockchain’s launch, showing that XRPL's DeFi ecosystem is still very new.

Support from Other Analysts

Backing up Schwartz’s point, a dUNL validator named Vet provided different numbers. He explained, the actual 24-hour DEX TV on XRPL was much higher, around $9 million. This is a big difference from the $44,000 which Aylo reported. Vet’s numbers suggest that the true trading activity on XRPL is significantly greater than what was initially shown.

He also mentioned that DeFiLlamas data might not show all XRPL activity. Vet thinks the actual TV could be higher if all trading types are included, not just AMMs.

Why Is XRPL’s DEX Volume Low?

Even with the defense, the altcoin still falls behind blockchains like Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Solana in DEX TV. Ethereum’s DEX volume is around $1.44 billion, while XRPL’s volume is much lower.

XRP has mainly focused on payments, not decentralized finance. Recently, XRPL started looking into DeFi by adding features like AMMs, NFTs, and stablecoins. Because of this, its DeFi ecosystem is still growing. This is why its DEX volume is lower compared to networks that have been focused on DeFi for longer.

Conclusion

The debate about XRP Trading volume highlights the need to see the bigger picture when it comes to blockchain use. Even though XRP’s DeFi ecosystem is still growing, it’s still an important player in crypto.

As the network expands and adds more DeFi features, its trading activity could increase, challenging claims it’s not useful.

Investors are keeping an eye on the altcoin eager to see how it performs in the next few months, especially with the ongoing SEC vs. Ripple case and new opportunities in the crypto world.