"XRP’s pre-mined supply gives it an unfair advantage, undermining the meritocratic ethos of mining-based coins"
No, XRP’s fixed 100 billion supply was a design choice for efficiency, not privilege, and its value—like all crypto—stems from adoption, not "earned" effort.
Argument
Skeptics argue that XRP’s 100 billion pre-mined tokens—doled out at genesis—rigged the field, clashing with the "work-to-earn" fairness of mined coins like Bitcoin, where miners sweat for rewards.
Response
The "XRP’s pre-mined stash is unfair" whine is a purist rant that doesn’t add up. That 100 billion? Dropped at XRPL’s birth in 2012—open, tracked, no extras—because mining’s a gas-guzzling relic David Schwartz and crew wanted to ditch. Nearly 1,000 nodes run a lean consensus—under 4 seconds, pennies a pop—not a PoW slogfest. Bitcoin’s "meritocracy"? Early miners nabbed BTC on home rigs for peanuts—hardly a grind. XRP’s genesis wallet was public—keys in the code, some snagged it—fair’s fair when the slate’s clean.
Crypto’s value isn’t sweat equity—it’s what the crowd bets on. XRP started at zero, same as BTC—adoption, not pickaxes, built it. Ripple’s chunk? Locked in escrow, drip-fed, not a golden ticket—miners dump too, just slower. Posts on X from Jed McCaleb’s old crew nod to XRPL’s goal: efficiency over ego, utility over effort. "Unfair advantage"? Only if you think a jet cheats ’cause it skips the horse race—all coins are "made up"; XRP just owns it, no fake toil required.
Miners romanticize labor—XRP’s pre-mine bets on results. It’s not less crypto; it’s smarter crypto.