Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

Ripple’s backstory just got a little twist. According to a set of emails from 2014, early notes on what became Ripple go as far back as 2004.

That’s four years before Satoshi Nakamoto put out the Bitcoin whitepaper. These emails, shared by XRP community figure SMOQE, feature comments from tech writer Reutzel Bailey and industry insider Jeffrey Cliff.

They hint that Ripple’s seed was planted long before anyone mined the very first bitcoin block in January 2009.

Email Exchange Raises Timeline Questions

In the 2014 thread, Bailey points out that Ryan Fugger first sketched out a payment system in 2004. Back then, it wasn’t meant to be a public, mined cryptocurrency.

It was called RipplePay, and it let folks move value without banks. Bailey says Chris Larsen later saw Bitcoin’s buzz and steered Ripple in a crypto direction.

Cliff jumps in to stress that Ripple’s idea “predates Bitcoin,” though he argues it wasn’t a “copycat math-based currency” riding on Bitcoin’s hype.

2014 E-mails confirm: “Ripple is older than Bitcoin.”

pic.twitter.com/9c8cOF4065

— SMQKE (@SMQKEDQG) June 24, 2025

RipplePay’s Early Vision

Based on reports, Fugger’s 2004 project aimed to speed up payments between trusted parties. It leaned on digital trust rather than mining. Transactions were approved by a small group of validators—not by open mining.

That setup made it fast, but also private. It wasn’t until 2011 that developers began talking about an open network, one anyone could join to validate deals, rather than a gated club.

Image: WazirX

XRP Ledger Emerges In 2012

In 2011, Jed McCaleb teamed up with Arthur Britto and David Schwartz to code what they called the XRP Ledger. They wanted a version of Bitcoin that skipped proof-of-work.

By 2012, Fugger passed the torch, and McCaleb, Larsen and others launched NewCoin. The name switched to OpenCoin in 2013, then to Ripple in 2015.

Based on the timeline, XRP the token went live in 2012—three years after Netflix hit 1 million subscribers in the US, and about 10 years before McCaleb sold his last coins in 2022.

Token Gifts And Executive Moves

When XRP started, its founders gifted 80 billion tokens to the company. McCaleb got 9.5 billion XRP of that stash. He agreed to sell his holdings bit by bit to avoid sudden market shocks.

His final XRP sales wrapped up in 2022. After exiting, he helped start Stellar. Larsen stayed on and today leads Ripple as its chairman.

Even though Bitcoin gets the credit as the first real cryptocurrency, Ripple actually laid the groundwork years earlier – at least according to the document — showing that the dream of sending value without a middleman was already taking shape.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.

OpenAI admitted that it can be confusing for users to choose between all the different models, but the company has quietly published a document that makes it easier to understand ChatGPT.

OpenAI posted an article titled “ChatGPT Enterprise – Models & Limits” on May 3.

While it provides an overview of all the available models and when to use one over another for enterprises, these advices are also applicable to regular users.

Right now, ChatGPT offers five models – GPT-4o, o3, o4-mini, o4-mini-high, and GPT-4.5.

What to choose between GPT 4o and 4.5?

According to the document, GPT 4o is the “omni model” with real-time information, and it should be used for summarizing content, brainstorming ideas or emails.

Since it’s a full-fledged multimodal, you can use nearly all the features, ranging from custom GPTs to image generation, canvas, advanced audio, and data analysis.

On the other hand, GPT-4.5 is your “creative” powerhouse, and it offers better emotional intelligence, communication and a creative approach to brainstorming.

It’s a lot like the GPT-4o, but if you prefer more creativity, GPT-4.5 should be your first choice.

What to choose between o4-mini, o4-mini-high and o3?

ChatGPT offers three reasoning models to regular users, but which one should you be using?

As per the document, o4-mini is fast for technical tasks, such as quick STEM-related queries, programming, visual reasoning.

On the other hand, o4-mini-high is best at detailed technical tasks, such as advanced coding, math, scientific explanations and higher accuracy.

Unlike these two models, o3 stands out in complex or multi step tasks, such as strategic planning, detailed analyses, extensive coding, advanced math, science, coding, and visual reasoning.

You’ll be able to choose between these models only when you pay $20 for ChatGPT Plus.