Ripple CTO Emeritus on ETH Decision: ‘Even 1% Chance Would Have Changed Everything’

In a recent discussion on X, Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz reflected on his early Ethereum exit. An X user had retold Schwartz’s story of selling his $ETH holdings for $1.05 each and that the Ripple CTO Emeritus wouldn’t have sold if he thought there was a 1% chance of $ETH hitting $2,368.

Schwartz famously sold a total of 40,000 $ETH when the second largest cryptocurrency was trading at just $1.05. The Ripple CTO Emeritus initially bought the 40,000 $ETH tokens at $0.311 and sold because he thought the token had reached its top. The proceeds were used to purchase a set of solar panels that he installed at his home in Oakland, California. Shortly after this, the $ETH price started rising.

In response to the X user, Schwartz responded that a 1% chance of his knowing the $ETH price would rise might have made a difference and he would not have sold it for $1.05. To him, the odds of $ETH reaching $2,368 weren’t just there.

If I had thought there was a 1% chance of it hitting $2,368, I would not have sold it for $1.05. I’m still not sure the odds of that happening really were more than 1% at the time. 😉

— David ‘JoelKatz’ Schwartz (@JoelKatz) May 4, 2026

“If I had thought there was a 1% chance of it hitting $2,368, I would not have sold it for $1.05. I’m still not sure the odds of that happening really were more than 1% at the time,” Schwartz said.

Schwartz stated that, to be entirely fair in his own view, at least a small part of his reasoning is that since $ETH had bounced between $0.70 and $1.00 a few times, he figured that he would sell when it next hit $1 and maybe buy back in when it dropped. Before he knew it, he sold at $1.05 and shortly afterwards, $ETH price rose to $12. Schwartz was confident that this was the top, so he never considered buying back in. Then Ethereum shot up to $2,000.

Ripple CTO emeritus discusses crypto holdings

Schwartz frequently shares information about his personal crypto holdings. In a recent response to X users who inquired about his holdings, the Ripple CTO Emeritus says he still holds Bitcoin and Ethereum, although not substantial amounts, but a significant quantity of $XRP.

Schwartz highlighted his $BTC, $ETH and $XRP holdings: “I once had 26 million $XRP. I once had more than 1,000 $BTC. I’m down to less than 1 now. I once had 40,000 $ETH. I think I’m down to less than 2 now,” he stated.

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