Ripple’s chief architect of the XRP Ledger, David Schwartz, has reacted to an attempt by retail investors to find a hidden announcement in his comments. The discussion on social media platform X once again brought old myths from the Ripple crypto community to the surface and prompted the top executive to remind investors of the risks of blindly believing in “secret plans.”
The unexpected trigger was a bagpipe GIF that Schwartz posted in response to one of his latest online debates. For the XRP Army, this musical instrument is a cult symbol rooted in local folklore.
In 2017–2018, an anonymous insider known as Bearableguy123 (BG123) published riddles about the token rising to $589, and his most famous collage depicted an astronaut on the Moon holding bagpipes. These images are still actively referenced in the tokenomics of meme coins and NFT projects on the xrp.cafe marketplace.
Users immediately linked Schwartz’s latest GIF to the archived riddle. An account named Bird developed an entire historical theory, claiming that bagpipes had always been used to rally troops and served as a signal to begin moving forward.
The response from Ripple’s CTO emeritus came immediately. Schwartz shut down the speculation, writing: “In other words, when the pipes started playing, it often meant it was time to move… away from the bagpipes.”
Why Schwartz does not believe in XRP at $10,000 (and urges investors to use their heads)
Schwartz has consistently debunked popular community theories about “magic buttons,” court-imposed travel restrictions, or secret government plans to turn XRP into a global reserve currency. According to him, investors are only deceiving themselves if they invest their money, time, or emotions based on such fabrications.
Schwartz has also repeatedly criticized ultra-high price predictions of around $10,000 per token, which are spread by supporters of the BG123 lore. His counterargument is based on market mathematics: if large, rational investors believed there was even a minimal probability of such an outcome within the stated timeframes, the current price of the asset would have reflected those expectations much more strongly long ago.
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Although Schwartz sometimes plays along with the community’s meme culture by changing his avatars or interacting with trust lines, he draws a firm line when jokes begin to be perceived as real financial guidance.
The latest bagpipe incident reinforces his position: social media posts by Ripple’s top management are personal content and humor, not encrypted signals for market participants.
