Online discussion with members $XRP The community prompted a public response from Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer Emeritus David Schwartz, who addressed claims circulating on X that attempt to link Ripple and Stellar to Jeffrey Epstein.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice released millions of new files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
The exchange began when X user Cobb claimed that “Ripple and Stellar were included in Epstein’s emails,” a claim that quickly gained traction within crypto circles.
Another user, JT Merlin $XRP The treasurer tagged Mr. Schwartz and asked if the matter was covered by a non-disclosure agreement and if he could explain further.
Ripple and Stella are in Epstein’s email 😭😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/cFd6Fa3Etx
— Cobb (@Cobb_XRPL) January 31, 2026
Schwartz responded directly, saying he was not aware of Jeffrey Epstein’s relationship with Ripple. $XRPor Stella. He added that he was not aware of any evidence to suggest that anyone at Ripple or Stellar had met with Epstein or anyone closely associated with Epstein.
Mr. Schwartz also acknowledged that there are indirect connections between Mr. Epstein and some individuals associated with Bitcoin, but noted that such connections are not unusual given Mr. Epstein’s proximity to extremely wealthy figures from various industries.
I don’t know about Jeffrey Epstein’s relationship with Ripple, but $XRPor Stella. I am aware of evidence that employees of Ripple and Stellar have met with Mr. Epstein and individuals closely associated with Mr. Epstein. There are some indirect connections between Epstein and people associated with Bitcoin…
— David ‘JoelKatz’ Schwartz (@JoelKatz) January 31, 2026
Ripple and PayPal: the “non-profit” debate
The conversation then turned to Ripple’s longstanding business structure and regulatory oversight. JT Merlin questioned whether these issues are related to past tensions between Ripple and payment platforms such as PayPal, and why Ripple, a for-profit company, has faced more criticism than Stellar, which has adopted a non-profit structure.
In response, Schwartz recalled Ripple’s early internal discussions and explained that there was strong opposition to pursuing a non-profit model at the time. He said he felt the creation of a nonprofit organization whose success was closely tied to private economic interests was misleading and potentially illegal.
Schwartz likened the idea to large corporations creating nonprofit organizations to advance their commercial interests.
Schwartz later clarified that his views had evolved, stressing that these discussions took place long before regulators began debating whether cryptocurrencies could be classified as securities, and before initial coin offerings became popular.
He also pointed out that at the time, few people expected that just distributing a large portion of the cryptocurrency’s supply would generate tens of billions of dollars in value.
