Crypto Community Accuses Ripple XRP of False Decentralization Claims
Some crypto community members are accusing Ripple, the company behind XRP, of falsely proclaiming that its native token XRP is de central ized and permissionless. Justin Bons, founder of Cyber Capital, claims to have found a “smoking gun” that proves Ripple has de facto control over the entire network. Bons pointed out that XRP’s consensus algorithm, Unique Node Lists (UNLs), is based on a list of trusted nodes that central ized parties, including the Ripple Foundation release. Nodes not on these lists are untrusted and do not participate in consensus. However, the researcher noted that while UNLs can be modified by users, a user can get kicked off if there is insufficient overlap with the rest of the network. He concluded that “XRP is not trustless,” adding that choosing who to trust is not the same as trustlessness. 2/25) XRPs consensus is based on UNLs (Unique Node Lists) Literal lists of trusted nodes released by central ized parties, including the foundation…...