Among the prominent crypto assets in the industry, XRP has been peculiar in its start-up records. The missing genesis block of the XRP Ledger has been a mystery to many. Recently, Ripple CTO David Schwartz addressed some growing concerns regarding the XRPL’s missing genesis block.
In his defense of cryptocurrency, the CTO pointed out that such a similarity also exists in the history of Ethereum.
Schwartz Draws A Parallel To Ethereum Defending XRPL’s Missing Genesis Block
The entire drama started when an XRP community member, known as MetaMan, queried the beginning block of XRP Ledger. Notably, the XRPL unusually started at block #32,570.
In his post on the X Platform, MetaMan portrayed skepticism and mentioned that XRP holders deserve transparency from the blockchain.
While questioning Schwartz, MetaMan stated:
Tell me, is there any blockchain that lost its genesis block?
You guys believe this story?
How does a block chain start at #32,569?
I’m Still holding #XRP and buying dips… but I think most people want the truth? @JoelKatz @Vet_X0 @bgarlinghouse @Ripple @msvadari pic.twitter.com/A4YwWd9lEy
— 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐌𝐚𝐧 𝐗 ™ (@MetaMan_X) January 15, 2024
Following the post, Schwartz shared a response, citing a similar case on the Ethereum blockchain and its ambiguous genesis block. He mentioned that Ethereum has transactions that precede its genesis block but no public record.
This transaction moved over $6 million worth of ETH. Where did that ETH come from? Where’s the transaction that explains it?https://t.co/qLtZSTYZKg
— David “JoelKatz” Schwartz (@JoelKatz) January 16, 2024
Further, the CTO highlighted a particular ETH transaction on August 3, 2016, which involved the movement of over $6 million but lacked any concrete source for the funds.
Schwartz queried the details of the transaction;
Where did that ETH come from? Where’s the transaction that explains it?
Additionally, another XRP community member pointed out certain transactions indicating the transfer of 40,000 ETH during Ethereum’s genesis block. On his part, Schwartz acknowledged the 40,000 ETH transactions.
However, he noted that the anonymity of the source was a deliberate plan in defining Ethereum’s genesis block.
Further, the Ripple CTO maintained that such decisions as the missing genesis block of XRPL were arbitrary. In his argument, similar choices, as applicable to Ethereum’s case, were targeted to conceal the sources of the funds.
Faced with the question of whether the 40,000 ETH appeared out of thin air, Schwartz replied they did based on the public blockchain perspective.
However, he believed that Ethereum insiders had more details regarding the situation. As one of the founders of XRPL, Schwartz revealed that the ledger’s genesis chain contains no transactions.
According to him, the first 32,570 ledgers possess 534 transactions, which are believed to be lost.
The Mystery Of XRP Ledger’s Genesis Block
The missing genesis block of the XRP Ledger has been an intriguing part of the ledger’s history. According to the earlier explanation from Ripple’s core developers and insiders, XRPL lost blocks #1 to #32,560 to a bug attack.
Though the developers tried to collect data for possible ledger reconstruction, they couldn’t due to insufficient information.
While Ripple’s starting days and XRP token creation details remained obscure, investors have remained confident in XRPL’s robustness. Apart from Schwartz, a Senior Software Developer at RippleX, Mayukha Vadari also responded to MetaMan’s question.
She explained the technicalities behind the XRPL lost genesis block. According to Vadari, XRPL’s earlier servers had a uniform configuration and encountered simultaneous memory depletion. This experience triggered the ledger issues and subsequent loss of the blocks.