David Schwartz, Ripple’s former chief technology officer, founding XRP Ledger architect, board member and CTO Emeritus, said his influence on XRP’s price is "very little" but not zero after an X user challenged him over the token’s roughly 50% annual decline, according to CoinMarketCap. Schwartz also said he blocks XRP supporters and critics who disrupt unrelated X discussions with promotions, insults or fraud accusations, while distinguishing that conduct from good-faith criticism.