Overview
- David Schwartz, an original architect of the XRP Ledger, accepted an honorary board seat with the independent XRP Ledger Foundation in a non-executive advisory role.
- The appointment follows a leadership refresh that installed Brett Mollin as executive director, Denis Angell as CTO, Rene Huijsen to run operations, and Hussein “Vet” Zangana to lead community work.
- Schwartz said he shifted from full-time work at Ripple to multiple advisory and community roles across the ecosystem, describing the change as a personal choice after years of nonstop work.
- He has also disclosed a sharp cut to his personal crypto exposure, saying he now holds over 1 million XRP, less than 1 BTC, and less than 2 ETH as part of a lower-risk portfolio.
- The Foundation operates separately from Ripple and maintains core code repositories, validator infrastructure, and a publisher Unique Node List as XRPL pushes into DeFi, tokenized assets, and institutional settlement.