Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), David Schwartz, recently sparked a lively discussion within the crypto community with a comment suggesting his past self would have been better off investing in Bitcoin. The remark, made in jest, highlighted the massive returns early Bitcoin investors have seen.

A Hypothetical Bitcoin Fortune

The conversation started after CoinDesk posted a question on social media asking what three words people would say to their 18-year-old selves. After an intern replied with “buy more crypto,” other industry figures began sharing their own thoughts.

Schwartz joined in, offering the phrase: “2010 Bitcoin 100,000.” His comment implied that if he could go back in time, he would instruct his younger self to purchase 100,000 BTC in 2010, a time when the asset was obscure and trading for just cents.

In 2010, Bitcoin’s price peaked at approximately $0.39, meaning an investment of 100,000 BTC could have been made for less than $39,000. Today, that holding would be worth billions of dollars, illustrating the staggering scale of the opportunity in Bitcoin’s earliest days.

Community Asks: Why Not XRP?

While intended as a lighthearted comment, it prompted questions from XRP supporters who wondered why a key figure at Ripple wouldn’t choose his company’s native token. One community member directly asked him why he didn’t mention XRP.

Like Bitcoin, XRP also presented a significant opportunity for early investors. Historical data shows that in July 2014, XRP was trading at about $0.0028. If the same hypothetical $39,000 had been invested in XRP at that price, it would have yielded nearly 14 million tokens.

Although that XRP investment would be valued at around $36 million today—a considerable return—it doesn’t compare to the potential gains from an early Bitcoin investment, which explains the logic behind Schwartz’s humorous hindsight.