Ripple CLO Clarifies the Misconception Around Bitcoin Decentralization 

Chief Legal Officer at Ripple, Stuart Alderoty, explained the misconception of decentralization in crypto. In his latest X post, Alderoty said the idea of decentralization is not unique to Bitcoin, just because it doesn’t have a CEO.

Decentralization is not Unique to Bitcoin

According to Alderoty, the idea of decentralization is based on permissionless systems, participation, and validation that is not under the control of a central authority. This means that the structure of decentralization is not exclusive to Bitcoin just because it doesn’t have a CEO.

He said, “Bitcoin doesn’t have a CEO, but that’s not ideology. It’s the fundamental design of all open, permissionless tokens.”

He warned the policymakers and regulators that treating Bitcoin as the only truly decentralized system could lead to misguided regulations and poor policy decisions. The National Cryptocurrency Association (NCA) emphasized this and said that there are other decentralized tokens like Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and Cardano, which are not controlled by a single person, company, or CEO.

XRP is Decentralized, Says Ripple CEO

Besides Alderoty, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse also clarified that XRP is decentralized as it is an open-source technology that exists independently of Ripple. XRP Ledger, the public blockchain, stated in a blog post that Ripple is a technology company and XRP is a digital asset independent of this.

“XRP is a digital asset that’s native to the XRP Ledger—an open-source, permissionless and decentralized blockchain technology,” it said.

Problems Follow Misconception

The misconception of Bitcoin is the only decentralized crypto can lead to regulatory blind spots, meaning regulators might craft rules specifically targeting Bitcoin’s structure. This failure to accommodate other decentralized tokens would stifle innovation and result in flawed frameworks.

Other than this, networks that prioritize faster transactions like XRP will be hindered if the policies prioritize BTC’s structure, which comes with a slower transaction speed. The ill-fitting rules will also impact the cross-border payments and censorship resistance in decentralized finance (DeFi).