31-7-2025 – Ripple Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz has publicly defended the XRP Ledger’s relatively low on-chain activity, claiming most institutional transactions occur off-chain despite the company’s 300+ claimed bank partnerships.
The defense came after entrepreneur Andrei Jikh questioned Ripple’s transparency on social platform X, citing the lack of verifiable on-chain data supporting the firm’s institutional adoption claims. Platforms like DefiLlama report only $81.8 million in total value locked (TVL) on XRP Ledger decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, but according to Schwartz, most institutional activity happens offchain and thus remains untracked.
Schwartz acknowledged that institutional on-chain adoption has been “very slow” but suggested this trend is “close to changing” as institutions begin recognizing blockchain benefits. He cited terrorism financing concerns as one reason Ripple avoids using XRPL’s decentralized exchange for payments, stating the company cannot ensure bad actors won’t provide liquidity.
Ripple reported a 30%–40% drop on XRPL in Q1 of 2025, with both new wallet creation and transaction volume declining in line with broader market contractions across Bitcoin and Ethereum networks. The company has also decided to discontinue its quarterly XRP Markets Report in its current format starting Q2 2025.
