The United States (USA) government just officially shut down non-mandatory services, causing absolutely no reaction from the crypto markets. It seems that the broader crypto currency markets had adopted the saying you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, resilient to the United States President’s mood swings on geopolitical ventures, mostly in the form of global tariffs.
Ripple CTO Steps Down Amid Market Apathy
With foreign pharmaceuticals now slapped with a 100% tariff, S&P, Dow Jones & NASDAQ all saw slight drops in evaluations, while crypto’s flagship asset Bitcoin (BTC) inked $115,550 on Wednesday afternoon. Producing a comeback from $108K support levels, Bitcoin (BTC) inspired major-altcoins to regain previously lost support areas.

Ripple (XRP), the popular remittance altcoin that’s one of the strongest next crypto ETF contenders, picked up the $2.90 price range again, exceeding $5 billion in trading volume on Spot markets. Intriguingly, this took place after Ripple’s OG CTO David ‘JoelKatz’ Schwartz announced stepping back from his position after a 13-year long blockchain journey.
The blockchain virtuoso who helped construct Ripple’s XRP Ledger from the core reported to have been researching fresh utility cases on XRP coin for the past few months. Sending out a special gratitude message to Ripple’s President Monica Long & the CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s long-time CTO mentioned working on his own XRP node.
“I’ve been tinkering on the side – spinning up my own XRPL node and publishing its output data”, all for the love of coding, JoelKatz says. Surely, a move like this adds to Ripple’s decentralization process, but also raises further questions due to the recent findings about SWIFT’s other blockchain experimentations beyond Ripple’s XRP Ledger.
On The Flipside
- Despite stepping down from the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) role, JoelKatz will continue to participate in Ripple’s decision-making process on the invitation of Ripple’s Board of Directors.
Why This Matters
High trading volumes are crucial for sustainable growth of crypto currencies, as it’s the default use case. On the other hand, Ripple’s CTO departure from his position could cause uncertainty among investors that have expected clarity in the wake of upcoming ETF decisions & SWIFT testing in Q4 of 2025.
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People Also Ask:
XRP’s price is climbing due to a massive $5 billion trading volume spike, likely triggered by news of Ripple’s CTO departure, which has the crypto community abuzz.
The volume is the total value of XRP traded in a 24-hour period. $5 billion means a ton of buying and selling, showing huge market interest after the CTO’s exit message.
The CTO is Ripple’s tech boss, guiding XRP’s development. Their departure hint has sparked speculation about Ripple’s future, driving price and volume swings.
Price surges can be exciting, but crypto is risky. Research XRP’s use case, market trends, and your own goals before jumping in. Don’t chase the hype blindly!
No one can predict for sure. The $5B volume & CTO news suggest volatility. Watch for Ripple tech updates or market shifts to gauge where it’s headed.