Anodos Co-Founder Says XRP Was Not Created for Banks. Here’s why

Panos Mekras, co-founder of Anodos Finance, recently took to social media to address what he describes as a widespread misconception about XRP.

He stated, “XRP was not created for banks, and Ripple with their founders actually hated institutions and middlemen.” He went on to outline the history of XRP, its intended use case, and how the narrative surrounding it has changed over time.

XRP’s Intended Purpose and Early History

Mekras explained that many people, inside and outside the XRP community, believe that XRP was created for banks and cross-border payments. He asserted that this is incorrect and originated from narratives pushed by “Bitcoin maxis.”

According to Mekras, “XRP was created for the opposite purpose – to destroy the banks’ monopoly and disintermediate them.” He described XRP as a more efficient alternative to Bitcoin with additional functionalities, such as a decentralized exchange (DEX) and tokenized assets. The goal, he stated, was to serve individuals and businesses rather than banks or institutions.

He then provided a historical account of XRP’s development, stating that it was built by three developers—David Schwartz, Arthur Britto, and Jed McCaleb. By June 2012, the XRP Ledger was live, but at that time, Ripple did not exist.

Later, Chris Larsen joined the project, and Ripple Labs Inc. was established under the name OpenCoin. Mekras emphasized that the supply of 100 billion XRP was created from the start, with no mechanism to create more.

Ripple’s Early Vision and Shift in Focus

According to Mekras, Ripple Labs initially had no interest in working with banks or facilitating cross-border payments. He cited their original vision, stating they wanted to “enable people to break free of the ‘walled gardens’ of financial networks like credit cards, banks, PayPal and other institutions that restrict access with fees, charges for currency exchanges and processing delays.” He claimed that the founders of Ripple disliked banks and aimed to develop an open payments system and peer-to-peer credit network on the XRP Ledger.

However, Mekras stated that Ripple changed its approach in 2014, pivoting toward payments and engaging with the banking system. He explained that their goal was to “create a level playing field for the smaller banks and destroy the SWIFT’s cartel owned by the big ones.”

He also mentioned that David Schwartz was inspired to work on the XRP Ledger partly because of a ban from PayPal, reinforcing the idea that the system was designed to free users from centralized financial intermediaries.

XRP’s Role in Decentralized Finance

In his concluding remarks, Mekras reiterated that the XRP Ledger was built for decentralized finance and was primarily meant for individuals and businesses that wanted alternatives to traditional banking.

He argued that XRP was designed to address high fees, transaction delays, and censorship imposed by centralized entities. He concluded, “Anyone who tells you otherwise, is either clueless or deliberately lying to you for his interest. Power to the people.”

Mekras’s statement challenges the perception that XRP was created as a tool for banks and cross-border payments, instead asserting that it was originally designed as a decentralized solution to disrupt traditional financial structures.

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