XRP Ledger Design Debated by Justin Bons and David Schwartz

A heated discussion is underway in the cryptocurrency community regarding the XRP Ledger's (XRPL) design and its claims to being a decentralized and permissionless system.

Crypto researcher Justin Bons has been critical of XRPL's Unique Node List (UNL), arguing that it is effectively permissioned due to its reliance on a published list, which can result in forking if diverged from. This structure, according to Bons, gives significant influence to entities associated with XRP, including the Ripple Foundation and the company itself.

Ripple CTO David Schwartz has responded by emphasizing that XRPL's consensus mechanism prevents double-spends and curbs validator control on honest nodes. He also pointed out that the UNL is used to prevent malicious actors from overwhelming the network with fake validators or withholding participation, rather than exercising governance control.

The debate has highlighted concerns over censorship risk and the balance between decentralization and regulation. Schwartz maintained that XRPL was intentionally designed so that Ripple could not control it, citing regulatory constraints as a reason for avoiding retaining such authority.