Satoshi Next? XRP Community Asks Question After This Development

In a surprising twist that has set the XRP community abuzz, Ripple cofounder Arthur Britto has broken a 14-year silence, leading some to speculate about the return of another iconic figure — Bitcoin’s mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.

Arthur Britto, the enigmatic co-creator of XRP Ledger and cofounder of Ripple Labs, posted to X on Monday for the first time since creating the account in August 2011.

The Ripple cofounder shared an emoji of a face without a mouth, which might mean speechlessness, although the actual meaning of the post remains unknown.

Britto, along with David Schwartz and Jed McCaleb, launched XRP Ledger (XRPL) in 2012. In 2011, the three engineers had set out to develop XRP Ledger. He also cofounded “NewCoin” with Schwartz, McCaleb and Chris Larsen, which was later “OpenCoin” before being renamed Ripple Labs.

Ripple CTO David Schwartz reacted by saying that the post on Britto’s account “was not a hack or compromise.”

Satoshi next?

The return of Ripple cofounder Arthur Britto on social media has sparked fresh speculation. Some in the crypto community are drawing parallels between the Ripple cofounder and Bitcoin’s mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, who vanished from public forums and communication channels in 2011 and has not been heard from since.

On Dec. 13, 2010, Satoshi Nakamoto made his final post to the BitcoinTalk forum. On April 23, 2011, the Bitcoin creator sent his final emails to fellow developers that he had “moved on to other things” and that Bitcoin was in “good hands.”

With Britto’s unexpected reappearance, the crypto community is wondering if Satoshi Nakamoto, too, might one day return.

Some are even speculating that the Ripple cofounder might be or have worked alongside Satoshi, which has yet to be validated but adds fuel to an already raging curiosity.