On Friday, I used this column to discuss the history of Ripple, the San Francisco company that has built a business around XRP, the cryptocurrency with which it is closely tied. My account discussed Ripple's struggles over the years to find a long-term business case but concluded on a positive note, citing the company's claim that the past two years have been its best ever.
On Saturday, I awoke to find my Twitter notifications had become a dumpster fire. The "XRP Army"—a group of thousands of online devotees—had discovered the column and taken issue with certain elements of it, informing me I was ignorant, would never become rich, and so on. I wasn't surprised as this sort of stuff is par for the course in the world of crypto, and nor was it a big deal, especially as I long ago learned to make liberal use of Twitter's "block" button. Still, it made me wonder what drives these people.
To be fair, I was unkind to the XRP Army in my original column, describing them as fanatical loons—though I'd argue their response proved my point. It's also true that XRP is hardly the only cryptocurrency with an online cult. The oracle service known as Chainlink, for instance, has the "LINK Marines," named after its online tokens, while the original cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is notorious for fans who are like Gollum with "my precious" and about half as fun.
You can also make the point that online communities are a big part of what crypto is about in the first place. In a world where crypto has powerful enemies at the highest levels of government, people draw a sense of solidarity in standing up for a new form of money they feel is superior in terms of both technology and economics. And then there is the steady stream of memes, which make crypto culture so lively and colorful in the first place.
Still, my latest tangle with the XRP Army made me question the effectiveness of their tactics and, in some cases, their mental health. If crypto is going to go truly mainstream, some of its biggest boosters need to decide if they want to be advocates for cutting-edge technology or a weirdo sub-culture. It's hard to take seriously mobs of people who tweet "to the moon" while lashing out at even legitimate criticism. At the end of the day, the XRP Army is probably its own worst enemy.
That said, thanks to the handful of people who took the time to write thoughtful emails about why Ripple's use of XRP to facilitate cross-border money transfers is—or is not—a smart business strategy. In the long-term, it will be real-world adoption and not online mobs that will settle the question.
Jeff John Roberts
jeff.roberts@fortune.com
@jeffjohnroberts
