The CTO of Ripple responds to criticism about the growing war between XRP and Litecoin

David Schwartz, the Chief Technology Officer of Gate, has responded to an influencer from Litecoin who attacked XRP in a post on X. The dispute began when Jonny Litecoin, an advocate for the Litecoin network, claimed that XRP was created “out of nothing” without mining or staking. With both parties exchanging harsh words online, the debate reignites the old rivalry between supporters of XRP and Litecoin.

Gate's CTO counters with the argument of energy efficiency

David Schwartz did not remain silent after seeing the comments from the Litecoin influencer. Schwartz pointed out that XRP and Litecoin offer similar use cases, but the difference lies in what is needed to create them. He argued that Litecoin requires significantly more energy to produce, as it operates on a proof-of-work system, while XRP does not.

In making this point, Schwartz presents XRP as an option that could increase in popularity and adoption over time, as it avoids the high costs and waste associated with energy-intensive proof-of-work methods.

In the post on X, it says: “Two products are equivalent, except that one consumes much more energy. Which do you think is more likely to grow in popularity over time?”

Gate has long promoted its “green” side, and has even worked on campaigns against the high energy consumption of proof-of-work systems. Proof-of-work blockchains, such as Bitcoin and Litecoin, face criticism for being wasteful and harmful to the environment.

The Litecoin influencer sparks a dispute with XRP with a critical post

Jonny Litecoin starts the debate by stating that Litecoin has more value in the real world than XRP. He dismissed the asset, saying it was created by a company without mining or staking and written “out of nothing.” According to him, this means that XRP lacks real value, despite its market capitalization of 169 million dollars. He argues that each Litecoin undergoes fair mining with electricity and computational power.

Jonny Litecoin's comments did not occur in isolation. The official Litecoin account on X also joined the fight on August 29 with a long mocking post directed at XRP and the CEO of Ripple.

The caustic post of “fun fact” compares the purpose of XRP to the smell of comets and mocks the idea of using the token for bank payments. It even went so far as to call the CEO of Ripple “Brad Garlicmouse,” provoking outrage among XRP advocates.

While many XRP advocates responded firmly, the Litecoin account refused to back down. Instead, the account frames the whole exchange as part of a community “joke.” This back-and-forth has once again highlighted the deep division between proof-of-work supporters and the XRP community, with no signs of the dispute slowing down.