Ripple Head of Markets: XRP Token Listing Was ‘Coinbase’s Independent Decision’

Blockchain payment network Ripple did not influence United States cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase’s decision to list XRP, a senior executive claimed on social media on Feb. 27.

As part of a Twitter debate involving United Kingdom-based entrepreneur and investor Alistair Milne, Ripple’s head of markets, Miguel Vias, broke ranks with previous correspondence from Ripple about Coinbase.

Milne had written to the company asking for comment on rumors, which assert that Ripple either paid or offered an incentive to Coinbase in order to list XRP on its professional trading platform, Coinbase Pro.

In response, Coinbase’s director of communications, Elliott Suthers, refused to discuss the issue in public, offering only the option of a private conversation.

After Milne uploaded a screenshot of Suther’s email to Twitter, Vias weighed in, denying outright any allegations.

“We’re happy to go on the record,” he wrote, contradicting Suther’s perspective, adding:

“Coinbase’s listing of XRP (also, not “our token”) was Coinbase’s independent decision - we did not give them anything to make it happen.”

The episode caps continued controversy at Ripple. As part of his tweet to Milne, Vias further rejected Milne’s previous description of XRP as belonging to Ripple — a subject which continues to yield contradictory statements from the company’s own executives and independent researchers.

A further debate, also impacting on Coinbase, involves XRP’s status as a security token under U.S. law.

Yesterday, Feb. 28, Coinbase announced that it had added XRP to its other platforms, in addition to Coinbase Pro. The firm stated that users can now purchase, sell, convert, send, receive and store XRP both on Coinbase.com and the Coinbase Android and iOS apps.

Coinbase has also faced mixed publicity over the past month, with a decision to take over blockchain data company Neutrino sparking major concerns from some cryptocurrency community sources.