Ripple Veteran David Schwartz Reveals Only Reason He'd Ever Unretire

Cover image via U.Today Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available. Former Ripple CTO David Schwartz has named the only reason he would be willing to come out of retirement. The chief architect of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) , who retired on Jan. 1, 2026, wrote directly that his comeback would depend not on money or the scale of the task, but on one specific person — Nik Bougalis. Advertisement A bridge to the past: Who is Nik Bougalis? For the Ripple ecosystem, Bougalis is a cult figure whose history is directly intertwined with the company's earliest steps. As only the eighth employee on staff, he spent nearly a decade leading the key engineering team that literally assembled the XRPL core code piece by piece. He is also credited with three fundamental company patents in advanced cryptography, which became part of the technological foundation of today's distributed network. HOT Stories Ripple CEO Urges Congress to Pass Clarity Act Hyperliquid (HYPE), Near Protocol (NEAR), Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE) Price Analysis for July 23: Bulls Reclaim the Steering Wheel The one thing that could almost make me think seriously about unretiring would be getting to work with @nbougalis again. Advertisement — David 'JoelKatz' Schwartz (@JoelKatz) July 23, 2026 However, this powerful engineering bridge was broken: Bougalis left Ripple in 2022 and, at the end of 2025, took over the technology division as CTO of the Algorand Foundation. Schwartz himself stepped away from his operational role only recently, choosing a quieter life after 13 years of continuous coding. He now advises the company selectively as CTO Emeritus and assists with releases such as the June XRPL 3.2.0 update. Because both specialists are firmly tied to different, competing blockchain ecosystems, their reunion in actual code appears more like an attractive hypothesis, while Schwartz's tweet stands as a rare acknowledgment of professional respect for a former colleague in the crypto industry. Advertisement You Might Also Like Thu, 07/23/2026 - 05:27 Ripple CEO Urges Congress to Pass Clarity Act By Alex Dovbnya This is not Schwartz's first ironic remark since retiring. In January, he had already joked that XRP's 20% jump happened "because he retired." But behind his signature irony about Bougalis this time lies a rare direct admission — this is not merely a joke, but a reference to one of the few people for whom he would be willing to return to coding. #Ripple News #XRP