Nik Bougalis worked mostly on open-source code projects for the payments-focused XRP Ledger, with the latest attempt to integrate NFTs being a notable implementation.
Nik Bougalis, director of engineering at Ripple Labs, is leaving the company after nearly a decade, becoming the latest of crypto’s long-tenured employees to leave the industry.
“my decade-long journey at Ripplehas been a fantastic (if exhausting and all-consuming) one. I got to work on a project that I love, towards a goal I believe in. But that journey will be coming to an end in a few weeks.” In an Oct. 22 tweet, Bougalis noted.
“All good things…”
— 𝙽 𝙸 𝙺 𝙱 (@nbougalis) October 21, 2022
My decade-long journey at @Ripple has been a fantastic (if exhausting and all-consuming) one.
I got to work on a project that I love, towards a goal I believe in.
But that journey will be coming to an end in a few weeks.
Curiously, the Ripple developer stated that he will not join a blockchain project or company in the near future.
“As for what’s next? I’ll talk about it when it’s time, but I am NOT joining another blockchain project/company, nor am I doing NFTs or DeFi,” he said.
Bougalis has an extensive history in software engineering and encryption. During his time at Ripple, he worked mostly on open-source code projects for the XRP Ledger, also known as XRPL.
The XLS-20 update that will introduce nonfungible tokens (NFTs) to XRPL is one of the most important recent advancements that Bougalis has overseen for Ripple. There were allegedly a few initial issues that needed to be resolved before the upgrade could be implemented in early November.
The cryptographer continued by stating that he believes Ripple will be successful without him.
“Its long-term health and success isn’t predicated on any one person. I’m confident that it will be just fine, thanks to talented and passionate individuals who contribute and participate, each in their own way.”
Brian Roberts, the chief financial officer of NFT marketplace OpenSea, announced on October 7 that he is leaving the company. Roberts is among a handful of prominent figures in the blockchain industry who have left their companies this month.
Gavin Wood, co-founder of Polkadot, announced his retirement from blockchain infrastructure business Parity Technologies on October 21, citing a lack of “eternal happiness” in the position. Other prominent executives that took the same path in recent months include the president of FTX US, Brett Harrison, the CEO of Kraken, Jesse Powell, the CEO of MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor, and the CEO of Genesis Trading, Michael Moro.
Ripple recently scored a significant victory in its protracted legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over alleged securities violations involving XRP.
Ripple’s general counsel, Stuart Alderoty, disclosed on October 21 that the company has finally obtained crucial papers that might considerably strengthen its defense against SEC.
The documents in question are about a speech that former SEC division director William Hinman gave in 2018 about how Ether is regulated. During the legal dispute, the government agency has fought hard to keep this speech secret.
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