Schwartz Considers Unretirement for Bougalis Collaboration Opportunity

Ripple veteran David Schwartz has revealed that he would only consider returning to work if given the opportunity to collaborate with Nik Bougalis, a former colleague and engineering expert. Schwartz retired from his role as CTO of Ripple on January 1, 2026, but has expressed admiration for Bougalis' expertise in advanced cryptography.

Bougalis was one of the key figures behind the development of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) core code and held a senior engineering position at Ripple. He left the company in 2022 to join the Algorand Foundation as CTO, where he currently oversees the technology division.

Schwarz himself stepped down from his operational role after 13 years of continuous coding, choosing to focus on selective advising for Ripple and assisting with releases like the June XRPL 3.2.0 update. He has stated that his return to work would be contingent upon working with Bougalis again.