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- After nearly 14 years of total silence, Ripple and XRPL co-founder Arthur Britto finally broke his quiet streak with a mysterious emoji post on X.
- For years, Britto’s near-total absence from public life had sparked wild speculation, with some even joking that he might not exist at all.
When people talk about the creation of the Ripple Network, names like Jed McCaleb and Chris Larsen usually come up. But there’s another figure who helped build the foundation, Arthur Britto. He’s one of the most influential yet private individuals in the crypto space. Britto co-founded Ripple Labs in 2012.
A Silent Architect
He played a major role in designing the XRP Ledger (XRPL), a fast, low-cost blockchain that launched as an alternative to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), and later helped introduce its native token, XRP. After years of near-total silence, Britto made a move on Monday by posting on X (formerly Twitter) for the first time since creating his account back in August 2011. The post? Just a simple emoji of a face without a mouth, often used to signal speechlessness.
Despite having nearly 47,000 followers, he had never said a word online until now. Ripple CTO David Schwartz quickly confirmed the post was genuine, not a hack, adding fuel to the fire. The unexpected reappearance has sent the XRP community into a frenzy of speculation. Some wonder if it signals a major update at Ripple, possibly a long-awaited IPO, a partnership, or a new blockchain innovation. CrediBull Crypto even compared Britto’s quiet mystique to that of Bitcoin’s elusive creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
Before stepping into the crypto space, Arthur Britto was actually a video game programmer, credited for working on early titles like Armor Alley and Crypt of Medea. Ripple CTO David Schwartz even confirmed this by sharing a 1980s-era MobyGames profile, revealing it was indeed the same Britto.
Beyond gaming, Britto co-founded or advised several startups, including one of the earliest Bitcoin exchanges and Information Access Technologies Inc., one of the first internet service providers.
He later co-founded NewCoin with Schwartz, McCaleb, and Chris Larsen, which eventually became OpenCoin and then rebranded to Ripple Labs. Although he was deeply involved in Ripple’s early development, Britto later stepped into more of an advisory role. Despite his contributions, he’s remained incredibly private, with no interviews, no photos, and for a long time, many even joked that he might not exist.
He’s also been linked to Standard Custody & Trust Company (now Ripple Custody) and was briefly listed as a director for Bitstamp in 2014 before stepping down in 2015. His name has appeared in various legal documents, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) case against Ripple Labs, though only to acknowledge his role in co-creating XRP. Interestingly, in 2015, he sued Jed McCaleb in California, claiming McCaleb’s founding of Stellar violated agreements and copied Ripple’s code.
As for XRP, the token recently saw a 7.63% price jump in the past 24 hours, now trading at $2.17, with a daily low of $1.97 and high of $2.21. While trading volume has dipped slightly by 1%, market cap is up by 7.42%, possibly signaling renewed interest from whales or large-scale traders.
