https://ripple.com/insights/top-9-frequently-asked-questions-ripple-xrp/5. Is the XRP Ledger centralized?
This is a top misconception with the XRP Ledger. Centralization implies that a single entity controls the Ledger. While Ripple contributes to the open-source code of the XRP Ledger, we don’t own, control, or administer the XRP Ledger. The XRP Ledger is decentralized. If Ripple ceased to exist, the XRP Ledger would continue to exist.
Ripple has an interest in supporting the XRP Ledger for several reasons, including contributing to the longer-term strategy to encourage the use of XRP as a liquidity tool for financial institutions. Decentralization of the XRP Ledger is an ongoing process that started right at its inception. In May 2017, we publicly shared our decentralization strategy.
First, we announced plans to continue to diversify validators on the XRP Ledger, which we expanded to 55 validator nodes in July 2017. We also shared plans to add attested validators to Unique Node Lists (UNLs), and announced over the course of 2017 and 2018, for every two attested third-party validating nodes that meet the objective criteria mentioned above, we will remove one validating node operated by Ripple, until no entity operates a majority of trusted nodes on the XRP Ledger.
We believe these efforts will increase the XRP Ledger’s enterprise-grade resiliency and robustness, leading to XRP’s continued adoption as the best digital asset for payments.