Ripple, Stellar Show Up In New Epstein Files, Ex-CTO Schwartz Reacts
Newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents include a 2014 email from Blockstream co-founder Austin Hill that mentions Ripple and Stellar. In the email, Hill reportedly complained to Epstein and others about investors supporting competing projects, framing backers of Ripple or Stellar as "enemies/opponents" to his Bitcoin-centric ecosystem.
Former Ripple CTO David Schwartz publicly responded, stating he knows of no direct connections between Epstein and either Ripple, XRP, or Stellar. He emphasized there is no evidence that anyone from these projects met with Epstein or his close associates. Schwartz criticized the "enemy/opponent" mindset as harmful to the entire crypto space and dismissed the notion of deeper involvement as speculative conspiracy. He also addressed a question about Ripple's for-profit structure versus Stellar's non-profit, revealing he had opposed the non-profit model early on, believing it seemed dishonest and borderline illegal. At the time of reporting, XRP was trading at $1.64.
bitcoinist02/03 07:25