After years of being one of the leading engineers behind the XRP ledger, Nik Bougalis officially became Chief Technology Officer of the Algorand Foundation. The announcement closed a chapter in a long speculation game about where he would land after leaving Ripple in 2022.
His resume speaks for itself. In nearly a decade at Ripple, he ran a team that built and maintained the XRP ledger codebase, encrypting three patents along the way.
Anyone who has been exposed to XRPL development may be working through the code that Bougalis wrote and reviewed. This shift means that Algorand picks up people who know how to hum a live blockchain under real traffic, as well as testnet slides.
Ripple CTO reaction
Ripple’s own leadership couldn’t ignore the news. David “Joelkatz” Schwartz responded by congratulating both parties, but also admitted that San Francisco-based Crypto Company was “really, really” to keep the developers from going out.
We really, really tried it.
– David ‘Joelkatz’ Schwartz (@Joelkatz) September 29, 2025
However, in a response to a user who later asked if Ripple was bored, Schwartz gave a broader explanation during XRPL that Bougalis is “a lot more tired than bored.” The line bumps harder than expected, hinting at how heavy the grind is inside Ripple’s camp.
For Algorand, the victory is clear, especially as it gains credibility for developers who know the XRP ledger and XRP’s $180 billion storyline. When it comes to Ripple, Exit reminds us that even deeper bonds and long-standing collaborations can’t always pin talent in one place.
