David Schwartz and His Bitcoin Journey

In a recent social media post, David Schwartz, Chief Technology Officer at Ripple, revealed that he mined a total of 250 Bitcoins during the cryptocurrency’s early days.

This revelation follows a user’s post featuring Schwartz in a red “Bitcoin miner” T-shirt.

Early Involvement with Bitcoin

Schwartz first got involved in Bitcoin back in 2011. Upon discovering Bitcoin, the enigmatic creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, had already left their last message. Schwartz shared:
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> “I bought it from someone who advertised on an early bitcoin forum. It was just cool to use bitcoin to buy something.”

In 2023, the Ripple executive admitted that he wished he had discovered cryptocurrency earlier. He mentioned he missed the opportunity to witness Bitcoin’s price drop to as low as $2.50. When Schwartz started mining Bitcoin, it was already valued at around $30.

Selling Bitcoin for XRP and Ethereum

Last April, Schwartz disclosed that he had sold his Bitcoin holdings to purchase XRP and Ethereum (ETH).

Satoshi Nakamoto Speculation

There has been some unwarranted speculation regarding Schwartz’s identity as Satoshi Nakamoto. However, he has consistently denied these claims. In a 2021 tweet, he stated:
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> “I have almost the entire skill set needed to have been Satoshi. It’s certainly plausible that I was part of a group. But, nevertheless, it’s not true. I didn’t find out about Bitcoin until 2011.”

Criticism of Bitcoin

Schwartz has repeatedly criticized Bitcoin, particularly its high energy consumption and the scalability issues arising from its proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithm.