After Chainlink community liaison Zach Rynes recently called the XRP Ledger (XRPL) an “obsolete ghost chain,” the XRP Army retaliated, sparking social media war.
Rynes argued that XRP’s “bridge currency” thesis has a foundational flaw, and laughed at XRP holders who still believe XRPL will become the primary settlement layer for tokenized assets.
He also highlighted XRPL’s real world asset market share of less than 1%, including under 0.01% of stablecoins minted on-chain.
The retaliation was immediate. XRP advocate and attorney Bill Morgan accused Rynes of having “an unhealthy obsession with XRP,” while Ripple Chief Technology Officer Emeritus David Schwartz called the criticism logically flawed.
Whereas Schwartz framed sales of XRP by the company Ripple as a prominently pre-disclosed and long-term distribution method to distribute XRP around the world for decades, Rynes dismissed that explanation as “elite tier gaslighting.”
Buys shares of Ripple versus buying LINK
Another flare up in the war between LINK Marines and XRP Army came from another crypto commentator calling out Ripple for buying back its own equity rather than XRP.
Chainlink, in contrast to Ripple, buys LINK tokens for its reserve.
Indeed, Ripple announced a $750 million share buyback at a $50 billion valuation on March 12. Chainlink, meanwhile, executed its largest single reserve expansion in January, adding 99,103 LINK purchased with the proceeds of protocol revenue.
Of course, what ultimately matters is not whether either founding entity buys or sells on an absolute basis, but rather how much that buying and selling matters relative to other sources of demand.
That contrast is the core of the disagreement between the two camps. While Chainlink converts institutional fees into token buybacks, Ripple converts XRP sales into corporate equity.
Rynes framed it bluntly: “By owning XRP, you are funding a company that has openly stated it will prioritize its equity shareholders over you.”
Read more: Is XRP overvalued? Critics flag $149 in daily network revenue
The XRP vs. LINK feud is years in the making
According to Rynes himself, the rivalry dates to at least 2019. He recounted the origins of the disagreement on a podcast last August.
Both communities compete over which crypto project could benefit most from institutional blockchain adoption. The XRP Army not only highlights its public partnerships but also behind-the-scenes work of financial giants, its operating behind non-disclosure agreements, and its adoption of XRPL technologies.
The LINK Marines counter with their project’s own list of partnership announcements.
Valuations, on their face, make the tribalism look absurd, with the XRP Army clearly punching down and the LINK Marines punching up for clout.
XRP trades at a $91 billion market cap while LINK has a $7 billion market cap. That is a 13x gap.
LINK is also far below its all-time high: 81% versus XRP’s 59%.
Social media ‘plagiarism’
On Saturday, Rynes flagged a brazen act of plagiarism. An XRP influencer with over 400,000 followers took a LINK Marines infographic and swapped the Chainlink logo for XRP’s.
The original showed Chainlink’s connections to Visa, Mastercard, SWIFT, and DTCC.
“Classic example of the social media misinfo slop that fuels XRP retail speculation,” Rynes wrote, even though social media posts by members of either fan group are beyond the control of either Chainlink or Ripple.
XRP supporter “Vet” summarized the mood from the other side: “The Chainlink folks are upset with XRP.”
In a follow-up, they defended XRPL as the only protocol offering built-in order book and automated market maker features without middleman fees.
Fans of Chainlink’s oracle services versus XRPL’s payment rails have turned many debates into a divisive identity war.
The irony, as more than one observer has noted, is that Chainlink and Ripple aren’t actually direct competitors.
Chainlink provides data information and cross-chain infrastructure while XRPL is a payment network and currency exchange.
Indeed, Ripple’s own stablecoin RLUSD already uses Chainlink’s price feeds.
Brad Garlinghouse and Sergey Nazarov have been photographed together smiling, however, their respective fanbases seem to have little interest in a ceasefire.
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