Calling XRP and XLM garbage! Subjective paper sparks controversy, exchanges delist following Messari research report

Bitstamp recently apologized for releasing a highly critical report on the cryptocurrency industry, which was a 2021 industry thesis written by Ryan Selkis, founder of research firm Messari. Bitstamp admitted to not exercising sufficient review, emphasized a discrepancy between the report and their own views, and deemed the arguments in the report as highly disrespectful to the community.

In the "Toxic Waste" section, Ryan Selkis directly criticized XRP and XLM, as well as Bitcoin's forked projects and Litecoin, categorizing them in this section. He started by saying:

I f***ing can't believe I have to write about this s***coin.

Advertisement - Continue scrolling for more content

BCH, BSV, BTG

He criticized that these several Bitcoin fork coins are useless. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) can never stop infighting and forking. It has turned into a soap opera. They had a chance in 2017, but that was their ceiling. Now, BCH is nothing.

XRP, XLM

Ryan Selkis pointed out that XRP and XLM began to surge in mid-November because they are old coins. Traders believe these coins that never die will eventually rebound, so they rush in early. The "cheap" prices of these coins attract naive newcomers to buy them.

He believes users can make money by trading XRP, but there must be a bottom line.Ryan Selkis concluded that XRP and XLM are "toxic assets" supported by regulatory agencies, which subvert everything he knew in the crypto field.

Litecoin (LTC)

Although Ryan Selkis classified Litecoin in the "trash zone" of the entire report, he still pointed out that Litecoin serves as a test network for new technologies in Bitcoin, including Segregated Witness (SegWit), Lightning Network, and sidechains, providing a bonus pool for hackers to stress test before Bitcoin upgrades.

While Ryan Selkis disagrees with calling Litecoin "digital silver," he believes the close relationship between Litecoin and Bitcoin makes it interesting.

Finally, Ryan Selkis mentioned Grayscale Investments' trust funds. Currently, Grayscale has six publicly quoted investment products tradable in the U.S. OTC market, including:

• Bitcoin (GBTC)
• Bitcoin Cash (BCHG)
• Ethereum (ETHE)
• Ethereum Classic (ETCG)
• Litecoin (LTCN)
• Large Cap Fund (GDLC)

Only ZEN, XLM, XRP, ZEC have not yet obtained regulatory approval. Ryan Selkis believes XRP and XLM may also have a chance to be publicly quoted, but this is not yet certain. He pointed out:

Currently, Grayscale only registers projects based on Proof of Work (PoW).

Ryan Selkis implied that only one token is based on the PoW mechanism, and coincidentally, it is a project he likes. However, in reality, both ZEC and ZEN operate on the PoW mechanism, and the project he likes should refer to Zcash (ZEC). He also mentioned in the report that ZEC is his second-largest bet in the cryptocurrency world.

Regarding Bitstamp's decision to take down the report due to subjective reasons, he believes "humor" is the only way for readers to finish reading a 134-page paper.