Twobitidiot loves Ripple and XRP

If you follow crypto twitter a headline reading “Twobitidiot loves Ripple and XRP” is probably one of the last things that you would imagine reading. However, we are of the firm belief that twobitidiot, aka Ryan Selkis has a secret love affair with both.

Twobitidiot background to the meltdown

To the naked eye, it would seem clear that Ryan has a long running hatred towards Ripple, XRP, and the #XRPcommunity His ongoing Twitter outbursts stretch back many months, and are seen as outright disrespectful to many that reads them. Despite being called out by Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple Inc. that he showed little understanding of X-Rapid and Ripple products (information that is freely available for all to see through a simple google search and the Ripple website), his taunts and attempted FUD continue unabated.

Ryan, you demonstrate in this comment how little you understand about xRapid and Ripple's products. In fact EVERY xRapid transaction leveraged $XRP. I don't mind well educated skeptics, but you continue to spread misinformation

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) May 10, 2018

It would seem that the timing of Ryan’s attacks on Ripple often match the timing of press releases concerning Ripple products and/or partnership developments, be they by Ripple or the partners concerned. In recent weeks the internet has been awash with news about Ripple products and partnerships, and the adoption of XRP as a cryptocurrency in every day life. These include:

RippleNet Surpasses 200 customers worldwide

MercuryFX scaling up the value of transactions during testing phase

Ripple CEO speaks at the Global economic Forum (Video)

With this, and much more positive news circulating, Twobitidiot took it upon himself to launch, in his words, War!, against Ripple and XRP.

https://twitter.com/twobitidiot/status/1088584142705618946

Apart from his linking the phone call to XRP by mentioning Brad Garlinghouse, no evidence of this call, nor anyone invested in XRP ever having called him was provided in the long thread that followed.

He proceeded to demand an apology from anyone at Ripple that he had a twitter handle for, for what had now turned into 3 threatening “calls”, once again not providing any evidence to support his narrative.

https://twitter.com/twobitidiot/status/1088603414085464064

Not living in the United states like Ryan does we are unable to comment on the situation over there, but here in Europe, if you are threatened the first thing you do is contact the authorities and they then advise you to remain silent in public so that any investigation isn’t compromised by your actions.

We would like to point out that we denounce attacks on individuals and, in particular, their families, in every shape or form. Attacking or threatening anyone for speaking their mind (even if they are proven to be incorrect) is a shameful and unconstitutional thing.

Why Twobitidiot loves Ripple and XRP

Everything we have listed above seems in direct conflict with the title “Twobitidiot loves Ripple and XRP” but let’s look at the bigger picture.

Twobitidiot, Ryan Selkis, has a wise range of crypto business interests. As a serial entrepreneur he is, we are sure, more than well aware that “demanding” a company reacts to “events” someone indicates are related to people who may or may not have a link to said company. As such, his demand must have an ulterior motive, and this is where the love affair blossoms.

With his primary crypto interests, Bitcoin and Ethereum suffering from much publicized frailties, and lack of positive sentiment, popularity must be sought further afield. Flagship of public interest and crypto adoption XRP fits the bill nicely. XRP is loved by many, especially the XRPcommunity, is gaining traction in the financial world and is hated by many Bitcoin and Ethereum maximalists. XRP will give the shrewd business mind the perfect exposure should he wish to seek publicity for a product.

An age old saying often associated with Phineas T. Barnum – the 19th century American showman and circus owner – states that: ‘There is no such thing as bad publicity’. Perhaps not willing to go down the route taken by the likes of Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian to create “bad” publicity, frequent twitter rants and raves against Ripple and XRP created both the good and bad publicity he yearned for. Let us remember the tweet by Brad Garlinghouse putting him firmly in his place, this was seen by many as a slap in the face of the Selkis FUD, but seemingly did not deter our Twobitidiot in the slightest.

Now, with this love of the good and bad attention Ripple and XRP provide him, the time had come to use this blossoming beauty to his advantage. Note the date of his twwets surrounding the “calls” he had received, the early morning timestamp of January 25th is CET, which coincides with it actually being early evening on January 24th where the tweets originated. And lo and behold, what did we see just a few hours earlier:

????Exclusive report: We believe Ripple’s $XRP market cap is likely overstated by $6.1 billion based on inflated circulating supply numbers.

Read our summary and methodology: https://t.co/0zD5YUSTpV …

Newsletter subscribers can access the full report through that link.

— Messari (@MessariCrypto) January 24, 2019

Yes, Messari Crypto published a report of their “belief” criticizing Ripple and XRP, and you guessed it, Ryan “Twobitidiot” Selkis is the founder of the company. As the image in the Messari tweet states, they knew Ripple were due to release the Q4 2018 transparency report, so releasing this tweet and “findings” report would be a perfect way to grab more attention. Now, it would be harsh of us to say that the love affair had Ryan constantly refreshing the Ripple website waiting for it’s publication so that the Messari “report” could be released, but the Messari tweet came out a matter of seconds before the official tweet by Ripple guiding readers to their website for the article they had just uploaded.

The Q4 #XRP Markets report offers insight into key events in the XRP ecosystem over the last quarter and year. Find out more here: https://t.co/KUdAOBKbcf

— Ripple (@Ripple) January 24, 2019

Coincidence or amorous publicity piggy backing? You decide. Either way we are sure that the “love affair” will be rekindled whenever some free publicity is required in future.

Just a brief footnote to the declaration of war:

We double checked our reference for “There is no such thing as bad publicity” with this excellent website (many thanks Gary Martin), and came across a reference we feel those waging war need to be wary about:

“There’s no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary” – Irish Republican and “drinker with a writing problem”, Brendan Behan.

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