According to U.Today, Ripple's Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz, recently clarified the ongoing confusion between the names XRP and Ripple. This confusion has been a long-standing issue within the XRP community, with the two entities often mistakenly considered as one. The discussion was sparked by community enthusiast and lawyer Bill Morgan, who pointed out an instance where XRP was wrongly labeled as Ripple on the Australian Crypto Convention's website.
Schwartz, a key figure in the development of XRP Ledger and the current CTO at Ripple, explained that the naming decisions were made at a time when concepts like Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and private blockchains were not yet conceived. He stressed that the intention was never to create confusion, and efforts were made to differentiate between XRP and Ripple. However, the confusion largely stems from the company's decision to adopt the name 'Ripple' from the protocol and network.
Former Ripple Director of Engineering, Nik Bougalis, also contributed to the discussion, attributing the naming controversy to the company's decision to unilaterally adopt the name 'Ripple'. He criticized the decision, stating that the long-term consequences were foreseeable and detrimental.
The origins of XRP and Ripple trace back to a shared history, with XRP initially referred to as 'ripples' before evolving into its current form. Over time, the entities diverged, with Ripple focusing on enterprise blockchain solutions while XRP emerged as a leading cryptocurrency with an entire ecosystem around it.