XRP marked its 14th anniversary on June 3, but the celebration quickly turned into a heated technical debate. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse thanked developers, validators and community members, yet the post revived a long-standing dispute about the asset's real birth date. The core question: Is the XRP of today the same one that launched 14 years ago?
Missing Data Fuels Controversy
Critics point to a critical data gap in XRP Ledger's earliest history. A server error wiped out header information for the first 32,569 ledgers, covering June to December 2012. That means fully verifiable chain history only starts at ledger 32,570 — essentially December 2012. Opponents of the June anniversary argue that the modern XRP's true genesis should be December 23, not June.
Ledger headers contain essential technical data linking each entry to its predecessor. Without them, independent verification of the network's earliest segment becomes impossible. Some community members insist that the ledger's uninterrupted and fully verifiable history began in late 2012, and therefore the “official” start should reflect that period.
David Schwartz Defends Continuity
Ripple CTO David Schwartz pushed back, drawing an analogy: changing a bank's accounting software doesn't change the money itself. He also cited Ethereum's transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, which did not erase the original asset's identity. Schwartz argued the same logic applies to XRP's continuity.
Yet dissent persists. Critics claim the XRP before December 2012 is technically distinct from today's version and no longer exists on the current ledger. With the data gap as a physical fact, the community remains divided on when exactly XRP was born — a debate that may never reach a definitive conclusion.