Ripple’s ‘XRP Army’ Shows Why Crypto Boosters Are Their Own Worst Enemy
On Friday, I used this column to discuss the history of Ripple, the San Francisco company that has built a business around XRP, the cryptocurrency it is closely associated with. My account discussed Ripple’s struggle over the years to find a long-term business case, but concluded on a positive note, citing the company’s claim that the past two years have been the best ever.
On Saturday, I woke up to find that my Twitter notifications had become a garbage dump. The “XRP Army” – a group of thousands of online supporters – had discovered the column and taken issue with certain elements of it, informing me that I was ignorant, would never get rich, and so on. I wasn’t surprised as this sort of thing is par for the course in the crypto world, nor was it a big deal, especially as I long ago learned to use Twitter’s “block” button liberally. Still, it made me wonder what drives these people.
To be fair, I was unkind to the XRP army in my original column, describing them as fanatical pockets – although I would argue that their response proved my point. It’s also true that XRP is hardly the only cryptocurrency with an online cult following. The oracle service known as Chainlink, for example, has “LINK Marines” named after its online tokens, while the original cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is notorious for fans who are like Gollum with “my precious” and about half as much fun.
You could also make the point that online communities are a big part of what crypto is about in the first place. In a world where crypto has powerful enemies at the highest levels of government, people are drawing a sense of solidarity in standing up for a new form of money they feel is superior both in terms of technology and economics. And then there’s the steady stream of memes, which makes crypto culture so vibrant and colorful in the first place.
Still, my latest entanglement with the XRP army made me question the effectiveness of their tactics and, in some cases, their mental health. If crypto is to truly go mainstream, some of its biggest boosters will have to decide whether they want to be advocates of cutting-edge technology or a weird subculture. It’s hard to take seriously crowds tweeting “to the moon” while lashing out at even legitimate criticism. At the end of the day, the XRP army is probably its own worst enemy.
That said, thanks to a handful of people who took the time to write thoughtful emails about why Ripple’s use of XRP to facilitate cross-border money transfers is—or isn’t—a smart business strategy. In the long run, it will be adoption in the real world and not cyberbullying that will decide the question.
Jeff John Roberts
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@jeffjohnroberts
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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