Why Ripple's CTO Emeritus Is Pitching Privacy Protocol Names to Solana's Top Contributor

Ripple CTO David Schwartz proposed a pool of names for a new privacy protocol on Solana Labs, responding to a public request from Mert Mumtaz. Schwartz’s proposed list included Umbra, Solstice, Veil, Specter, Obsidian, Nyx, and Obscurant.

Answering the question in the headline, it’s because of the synergy between top executives from traditionally competing blockchain communities – $XRP and Solana – around the shared issue of privacy, and it is not really surprising.

Two ecosystems, one goal

Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helius, has become one of the most visible advocates for privacy during the current market cycle and has actively supported the ideas behind Zcash (ZEC). Judging by his request, his focus now extends further toward building privacy-focused solutions directly within the Solana ecosystem.

Schwartz, who serves as Ripple CTO Emeritus, openly acknowledged as far back as last year that the XRPL does not have built-in anonymity features on the level of Monero or Zcash, and smart contracts on third-party programmable platforms such as Ethereum and Solana.

However, in 2025, the $XRP ecosystem itself is also focused on finding technological solutions for privacy with support from RippleX and independent developers. This year became a turning point thanks to the release of long-awaited upgrades such as Confidential Tokens (MPT).

Instead of the industry’s usual blockchain rivalry narrative – “Solana versus $XRP” – this interaction demonstrates a direct crypto industry dialogue. Developers from different camps are aligned on the main point – privacy is a critically important sector that must be developed through joint efforts regardless of the specific network.

Thus, the main value of this short exchange is that both networks are simultaneously building infrastructure for ZK privacy: Ripple for confidential banking and Solana for ultra-cheap and fast anonymous transactions within DeFi. The emergence of a protocol such as Umbra or Solstice on either network would merely become the marketing shell for tectonic changes that are already taking place at the code level.