Canadian Bitcoin Developer Critiques Altcoin Inclusion in Reserve

Canadian Bitcoin developer Peter Todd, identified as a leading candidate for Satoshi Nakamoto by HBO last year, criticized the proposal to include altcoins like XRP and Solana (SOL) in a strategic cryptocurrency reserve.

Todd described this idea as “an obvious scam” aimed at benefiting the “centralized parties” behind these tokens. He emphasized that a Bitcoin-only reserve would resemble a gold reserve, stating, “The Bitcoin part of it is just buying digital gold. Not much different than a strategic gold reserve.”

The announcement of the reserve initially caused double-digit gains for tokens like XRP and ADA but faced significant backlash. Even pro-crypto figures, such as Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley, questioned the inclusion of these altcoins. Bitcoin maximalists were particularly disappointed, expecting a pure BTC reserve. Critics argue that these altcoins are not sufficiently decentralized for inclusion.

Todd, who was compensated for analyzing Ripple in 2015, has consistently critiqued XRP, noting, “The irony of all this is if Ripple just went out and said that XRP is a centralized system we’d all have a much harder time criticizing it…”