A policy tweak on X has sparked debate across the crypto community and drawn a tongue-in-cheek response from Ripple’s chief technologist.
Less than 24 hours after X updated its paid partnership rules and briefly appeared to restrict crypto and financial promotions, the platform clarified that the change was made in error. Nikita Bier, X’s Head of Product, confirmed that advertising from crypto and financial projects would still be allowed on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
The key difference: such posts will now carry a visible “paid partnership” label. Previously, this disclosure tag was not consistently available for crypto-related content, leading to confusion about sponsored promotions.
“Ripple is an awesome company” with a label
The update quickly turned into a live experiment within the XRP community. A well-known XRP supporter using the nickname Cobb published a post praising Ripple as “such an awesome company” to test how the new disclosure system would function.
I could not agree more!
— David ‘JoelKatz’ Schwartz (@JoelKatz) March 1, 2026
David Schwartz, Ripple’s CTO Emeritus and a prominent voice in the broader crypto space, responded with a playful “couldn’t agree more.” His reply was promptly marked with the new paid partnership tag despite the exchange being widely interpreted as satire.
The episode was viewed by many as a light mockery of the platform’s revised rules, highlighting how automated labelling may apply broadly regardless of context.
A push for transparency in crypto advertising
While the interaction amused the XRP community, the policy shift reflects a broader push for transparency in digital advertising. Social platforms and search engines have faced mounting pressure to crack down on misleading financial promotions, particularly in high-risk sectors like crypto.
Under frameworks such as Google’s “Your Money, Your Life” standards, stricter oversight aims to protect users from content that appears to be neutral commentary but is in fact paid promotion.
Meanwhile, the XRP Ledger Foundation confirmed that it successfully patched a critical vulnerability discovered in a not-yet-activated amendment to Ripple’s XRP Ledger, preventing what could have become one of the largest exploits in crypto history.
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