Ripple CTO Emeritus regrets selling XRP at $0.10 and Ethereum near $1
Ripple CTO Emeritus David “JoelKatz” Schwartz said he regrets selling early XRP at about $0.10 and selling Ethereum near $1. In an X post dated July 20, 2026, he said the exits were driven by personal risk aversion and a family agreement to reduce crypto exposure whenever holdings hit new all-time highs (ATHs), not by a lack of confidence in the technology.
Schwartz previously explained the mindset behind the trades: he started trimming XRP when it reached $0.10 because it seemed extremely high at the time, and he sold part of his ETH around $1.05. He added that if he had believed Ethereum had a realistic (even small) chance to reach far higher levels, he would not have sold.
He has since reduced overall crypto exposure. Historically, his XRP holdings peaked near 26 million tokens, and he said he moved much of his wealth outside cryptocurrencies while retaining Ripple equity. He also remains active in XRP Ledger work and has continued commenting on the ongoing SEC vs. Ripple legal debate, though his latest remarks focused on his own trading decisions rather than new price forecasts.
For traders, this is primarily a sentiment/positioning datapoint: major insider selling tied to risk management can reinforce the idea of structured profit-taking near ATHs, but it does not change near-term XRP or Ethereum fundamentals.
Neutral
This news is largely a personal portfolio-management statement. Schwartz—an important Ripple and XRP Ledger figure—said he sold XRP around $0.10 and Ethereum near $1 due to risk aversion and a preset “sell at every ATH” family agreement. While it can shape narrative around insider behavior and profit-taking, it does not introduce new disclosures about current large-scale selling, nor does it change protocol fundamentals, legal outcomes, or tokenomics.
Short-term, traders may see it as reinforcement of “reduce exposure near ATH” behavior, which can slightly increase sensitivity to price spikes in XRP and ETH. However, because the article frames regret (missed upside) rather than aggressive liquidation, it is unlikely to trigger a sustained bearish repricing by itself.
Long-term, the implication is mainly about how highly informed insiders manage uncertainty: structured risk-off decisions can coexist with continued development involvement (Schwartz remains active in XRPL infrastructure and commentary). Similar past anecdotes from founders or core developers often moved sentiment briefly but rarely altered sustained market direction unless paired with verifiable changes in supply, regulatory rulings, or major corporate actions.