David Schwartz, Ripple's CTO, recently stated that it is beneficial for Ripple to avoid building products that require the use of XRP. He believes that removing technical barriers and not mandating the use of XRP unless it is necessary for specific features related to the XRP Ledger allows a broader range of individuals to use the platform, even those who have reservations about XRP. This approach expands the potential user base while encouraging wider adoption for the product. Ripple gives institutions that are on RippleNet the liberty to choose to use XRP as a bridge currency for cross-border payments or use any other digital asset.