Almost the entire Ripple community on social media seemed to be against this operation. They speculated the reasons behind this suspicious transaction and its confusing receiving address.
Transaction fees
The actual cost of the transaction was less than a penny. Even so, the colossal transaction sparked a conversation in Ripple community, with the majority expressing disappointment, wondering whether XRP is just a way for Ripple to rake in millions as a company, rather than an opportunity for investors. They even questioned if the digital coin is being used to promote the company’s financial standing.
The XRP Monitor published the following post about the transaction on Twitter, which states:
Transaction type: payment
Amount: 150,000,000 XRP
Cost: 5,000 drops (0.005 XRP)
From: r9UUEXn3cx2seufBkDa8F86usfjWM6HiYp
Sender balance: 800,000, 199.868
Receiver: rBg2FuZT91C52Nny68houguJ4vt5x1o91m
Payee balance: 195,700,027.229249″
The post also included a link. Based on the information they provided, some members believe that this transaction was carried out by Ripple founders. Others believe the transaction belongs to either Ripple CEO Chris Larsen or Jeb McCaleb.
Who carried it out notwithstanding, the controversial transaction occurred at a time where there has been lots of pressure for the Ripple’s leadership to come clean on whether a single individual at the company can influence the XRP Ledger.
When Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse spoke at the Swell Conference 2018, he had to speak on this topic, assuring investors that Ripple is ‘clearly decentralized’. He even said it is more decentralized than Bitcoin and Ethereum. He also said that all the negativity surrounding XRP is due to the way in which opponents seem to spread rumors to undermine the platform. Larsen said he does not have the power or administrative power to influence the ledger.
Even with all the turmoil surrounding Ripple Ledger and this controversial transaction, many experts still believe that XRP tokens will rise in price this year. This may be attributed to Ripple XRP’s numerous partnerships and new deals with some of the top Fintech companies.