#161 - DAVID SCHWARTZ

David is the CTO of Ripple and one of the original architects of the XRP Ledger. Prior to Ripple, David spent over a decade as the CTO of WebMaster Incorporated where he developed encrypted cloud storage and enterprise messaging systems. David is also known by his internet pseudonym “JoelKatz”. Follow him on X @JoelKatz. [0:16] - What sparked David’s interest in distributed systems [3:28] - How David discovered Bitcoin [6:34] - The core technical innovations of Bitcoin [8:56] - Ripple’s opportunity in payments [12:45] - Misconceptions related to Ripple [19:03] - Rebuilding SWIFT from a blank slate [22:37] - Why David believes the future of crypto favors niches [28:36] - The importance of blockchain interoperability [31:47] - David’s views on tokenization and real world assets (RWAs) [35:12] - Preventing centralized actors from co-opting blockchains [42:26] - Balancing censorship resistance with institutional adoption [47:50] - What excites David about the future of Ripple For more episodes, go to ⁠⁠podofjake.com⁠⁠. Previous guests include ⁠⁠Mark Cuban⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Vitalik Buterin⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Brian Armstrong⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Balaji Srinivasan⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Keith⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Rabois⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Ali Spagnola⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Anthony Pompliano⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Raoul Pal⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Julia Galef⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Jack Butcher⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Tim Draper⁠⁠, and over 100 others alike. Learn from founders and CEOs of companies like ⁠⁠OpenAI⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Coinbase⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Solana⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Polygon⁠⁠, ⁠⁠AngelList⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Oura⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠Replit⁠⁠, and investors from ⁠⁠Founders⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Fund⁠⁠, ⁠⁠a16z⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Union Square Ventures⁠⁠, and many more. I appreciate your support and hope you enjoy. Thanks to ⁠⁠⁠Chase Devens⁠⁠⁠ for the show notes and ⁠⁠⁠Yiction⁠⁠⁠ for the music. Lastly, I love hearing from fans of the pod. Feel free to email me any time at ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠. Thank you!