Here’s How Much Ripple’s CTO XRP Holdings Would Be Worth If He Never Sold

Debates surrounding the XRP holdings of former Ripple Chief Technology Officer (CTO), David Schwartz, proceed to emerge throughout the crypto market. New updates from an XRP researcher present simply what number of tokens Schwartz held and the way a lot this may have been value annually from 2012 to 2026 if he had by no means offered off his holdings.

How Much Ripple’s Ex-CTO’s XRP Holding Could Have Been Worth

A distinguished crypto blockchain researcher, referred to as BankXRP, has released a brand new report on the worth of the XRP stash as soon as held by Schwartz. The findings element how the worth of the holdings may have grown over time earlier than the former Ripple CTO offered his baggage.  

The report reveals that Schwartz once held 26 million XRP tokens, which noticed huge swings as the worth modified annually. In 2012, XRP’s worth sat at $0.005, making his holdings value $130,000 earlier than the cryptocurrency hit $2.30 in 2017 during the bull market. At that point, the previous Ripple government’s stash may have been valued at roughly $59.8 million. 

Following this, BankXRP stated that Schwartz’s portfolio worth would have plummeted when the XRP worth fell to $0.19 in 2019, and would have risen once more because the cryptocurrency’s worth climbed again towards $1.00 in current cycles. By 2024, after the massive rally, XRP’s common worth sat at $2.08. This means the estimated worth of Schwartz’s holdings would have been over $54 million.

For 2025 and 2026, the newest figures present that XRP traded at common costs of $1.84 and $1.40, respectively. These market charges would have stored the worth of the previous CTO’s complete holdings between $36.4 million and $47.8 million over the last two years.

Notably, BankXRP stated that Schwartz chose to sell a large portion of his tokens when the worth was roughly $0.10 per token. This sell-off was not carried out in a single transaction. The former Ripple CTO had liquidated a big portion of his holdings in a number of waves between 2012 and 2020 as a part of his de-risking technique. 

That particular sale earned him about $2.6 million on the time, however the market continued to fluctuate wildly afterward. On May 6, 2026, Schwartz famous on X that he “as soon as had 26 million XRP” however now holds significantly much less. 

Schwartz Speaks On His Investment Strategy

Schwartz shared new particulars relating to his private digital asset holdings and general monetary technique on X this week. The former Ripple CTO revealed that he has moved a good portion of his wealth away from direct crypto publicity, together with XRP.

Schwartz defined that he prefers to restrict his monetary danger despite the fact that a lot of his previous investments have been extremely profitable. He additionally clarified that he doesn’t have a lot of his authentic XRP stash left as a result of he dislikes danger and prefers a extra conservative funding method.

While he views cryptocurrency as a uncommon alternative to construct wealth, Schwartz stated he’s snug lacking out on potential massive gains. This is as a result of he selected to prioritize stability over the best attainable returns in a unstable market.

The former Ripple CTO additionally talked about that he could have been a billionaire if he had been prepared to take extra dangers together with his portfolio. He believes that his present stage of success matches the extent of danger he has been ready to simply accept through the years. Currently, his foremost tie to the blockchain business comes from possession of the Ripple stock. He said that the place offers him adequate publicity to the crypto area whereas permitting his different funds to stay safe.