David Schwartz, Chief Technology Officer at Ripple, has weighed in on the ongoing debate sparked by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey regarding Bitcoin’s place within the broader crypto landscape. This discussion reignited some confusion among X commentators, many of whom misunderstood Dorsey’s statement.
**Linguistic Nuance**
The Ripple CTO, who recently announced he will be stepping down at the end of the year, added important linguistic nuance to the conversation. He explained that Dorsey’s phrasing—specifically the use of “Bitcoin is not part of crypto” without an indefinite article—implies that Bitcoin does not belong to the broader class of tokens typically considered crypto in modern investment discourse.
On the other hand, if Dorsey had used an indefinite article (“a crypto”), it would suggest that Bitcoin itself is not a cryptocurrency, which is clearly incorrect. Some commentators took Dorsey’s words literally, citing Bitcoin’s fundamental cryptography to argue against his point, but this was not Dorsey’s intention.
**Dorsey’s Longstanding Position**
Jack Dorsey, an outspoken opponent of alternative cryptocurrencies (altcoins), first encountered Bitcoin back in 2010 and has been a longtime supporter of Bitcoin maximalism. As reported by U.Today, he previously sparked controversy by trolling the Ethereum community through the use of the Ethiopian flag and has openly criticized Ethereum, claiming it has “many single points of failure.”
**The Bitcoin Maximalist Perspective**
For many Bitcoin maximalists, the term “crypto” has taken on a somewhat pejorative meaning. They argue that “crypto,” as a broad category, is highly speculative and virtually limitless in its varieties—qualities they believe set it apart from Bitcoin, which is regarded as highly decentralized and scarce. This distinction underpins Dorsey’s strong rejection of the term “crypto” as it is commonly used.
In summary, the debate is less about Bitcoin’s cryptographic foundations and more about how the term “crypto” is applied to various digital assets in the investment world.
https://u.today/ripple-cto-weighs-in-on-jack-dorseys-bitcoin-is-not-crypto-remark
