SMQKE, a well-known voice in the XRP scene, has brought attention to a document that could reshape how people view Ripple’s place in crypto history. The document includes a dated email thread from 2014, in which participants from the tech and finance space—among them journalist Reutzel Bailey—discuss early developments in digital payments.
In one part of the conversation, Bailey mentions that Ripple’s roots may go back to 2004. If accurate, this would mean that Ripple’s foundation was laid years before Bitcoin even entered the picture, adding a new layer to the ongoing discussion about who truly pioneered the movement toward decentralized finance.
Ripple’s Roots Date Back to 2004, Says Bailey
Reutzel Bailey noted that Ryan Fugger first conceived the idea behind Ripple, dating back to 2004. But the project didn’t begin to take off until Chris Larsen got involved. Bailey explained that Larsen played a significant role in bringing Ripple to a wider audience, particularly around the time Bitcoin was gaining serious traction.
In Bailey’s opinion, Larsen chose to present Ripple as a cryptocurrency mainly to attract attention. “I think Larsen pushed this [Ripple] as a cryptocurrency to catch attention because the platform itself was not really about cryptocurrency at all,” he said.
RipplePay and Ryan Fugger
Ripple’s origins date back to 2004, when Canadian developer Ryan Fugger created RipplePay, a decentralized payment system designed to help individuals exchange value without relying on banks. The platform was based on a network of trust and IOUs, enabling users to send payments directly to one another. At the time, the project had no ties to cryptocurrency—it was simply an early effort to rethink how financial transactions could work outside of traditional institutions.
A New Direction: The Birth of XRPL
In 2011, amid growing interest in Bitcoin, developers Jed McCaleb, Arthur Britto, and David Schwartz began working on a new blockchain protocol. They wanted to address the inefficiencies they saw in Bitcoin, particularly its reliance on the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism, which was energy-intensive and slow. Their solution evolved into the XRP Ledger (XRPL)—a decentralized, high-speed ledger that employed a distinct approach to validate transactions.
RipplePay Meets Blockchain
As the XRPL project developed, McCaleb saw an opportunity to connect it with Fugger’s RipplePay concept. He approached Fugger with the idea of merging the two, envisioning a blockchain-based system that could build on RipplePay’s decentralized ethos. Fugger agreed and handed over control of RipplePay to McCaleb and his team, effectively bridging the gap between the pre-crypto RipplePay and the new blockchain-based XRP Ledger.
Building the Company and XRP Allocation
After acquiring RipplePay, Jed McCaleb partnered with entrepreneur Chris Larsen to launch a new venture in 2012, initially named NewCoin. The company quickly rebranded to OpenCoin, and by 2015, settled on the name Ripple. Around this time, the developers of the XRP Ledger donated 80 billion XRP to support the company’s growth, with McCaleb receiving 9.5 billion XRP for his role. Following internal disagreements, McCaleb left the company and agreed to a structured plan to sell his XRP holdings gradually—a process he completed in 2022.
Diverging Paths: Stellar and Ripple’s Leadership
After leaving Ripple, McCaleb launched Stellar, a separate blockchain network focused on financial inclusion and cross-border transactions, similar in mission but different in structure. Meanwhile, Chris Larsen remained an active figure at Ripple. He continues to serve as the company’s chairman, overseeing its efforts to modernize global payments through blockchain-based solutions.
Final Thoughts
The document shared by SMQKE sheds new light on Ripple’s early days, suggesting it may have started years before Bitcoin. What began as Ryan Fugger’s trust-based payment system in 2004 slowly evolved into the blockchain-powered Ripple we know today. Key figures like Jed McCaleb and Chris Larsen helped turn the idea into a global network for faster, cheaper payments. While Ripple is now closely tied to crypto, its long and unusual journey shows there’s more to its story than many realize.
