Slashdot Mirror
Will Ripple Eclipse Bitcoin?
First time accepted submitter groggy.android writes This year's biggest news about Bitcoin may well turn out not to be the repeat of its surge in value last year against the dollar and other state currencies but its impending eclipse by another independent but corporate-backed digital currency. Popularly known as Ripple, XRP shot up in value last year along with other cryptocurrencies that took advantage of the hype around Bitcoin. However, among the top cryptocurrencies listed in Coinmarketcap.com, a site that monitors trading across different cryptocurrency exchanges, Ripple is the only one that not only regained its value after the collapse in the price of Bitcoin but has more than doubled from its peak last year. In September it displaced Litecoin to become the second most valuable cryptocurrency. Even more surpising, a Ripple fork, Stellar, is one of the two other cryptocurrencies in the Coinmarketcap top ten that have risen sharply in value during the last few weeks.
What makes Ripple different from Bitcoin? Strictly speaking, Ripple isn't the name of the digital currency but of the decentralized payment network and protocol created and maintained by the eponymous Ripple Labs. Users of the Ripple system are able to transact in both cryptocurrency and regular fiat currency like the dollar without passing through a central exchange. XRP is the name of the native unit of exchange used in the Ripple network to facilitate conversion between different currency types.
What makes Ripple different from Bitcoin? Strictly speaking, Ripple isn't the name of the digital currency but of the decentralized payment network and protocol created and maintained by the eponymous Ripple Labs. Users of the Ripple system are able to transact in both cryptocurrency and regular fiat currency like the dollar without passing through a central exchange. XRP is the name of the native unit of exchange used in the Ripple network to facilitate conversion between different currency types.
The competition among virtual currencies and their continuing evolution demonstrate their uselessness as stores of value.
If I hold wealth in Virtual Currency A, and if Virtual Currency B is developed and eclipses it in popularity, my store of value has been degraded.
Regardless of your view on national currencies (vs. gold and silver), national currencies have the benefit of designation as official mediums of exchange. Using a virtual currency is equivalent to using a national currency of a small nation that maybe overrun or collapse at any moment. The moment it loses popularity, your wealth disappears.
Ripple and Stellar both pre-created something like a trillion coins that they put into their creators pockets. Then they've doled out a very tiny portion of them and as soon as one trades for a cent they instantly have a market cap of "billions".
Funny you mention Ripple's "value" growth: It apparently was too slow for its creators, as they (almost the entire original development team, and their CEO) abandoned it and rebooted their scheme in Stellar.
Both systems aren't decentralized in the sense that Bitcoin is-- they require a centerally administered list of trusted transaction processing servers, which has pluses and minuses. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be especially forthcoming about these limitations.
...let's see:
So it's not actually a real competitor to Bitcoin. How about a look at the Wikipedia page:
At best, it's not competing with BC in the first place, and at worst it sounds too complex for consumers to get their heads around.
So I guess the answer to the original question is a resounding "no", but Betterage could have told you that.
For the umpteenth time... ripple runs through a distributed network consisting of host nodes and validators. The host nodes are controlled by Ripple labs. HENCE it is a centralized exchange
Isn't the problem with the value of the USD is that there can be an infinite amount of competing currencies expressed by giftcards, crypto-currencies, and other forms of fiat?
No, there is only one currency standard for the country. They can trade with other currencies but everything is based on its relation to the USD, but as far as the USD goes, there is not competitor in the US, and particularly not one that influences the value of the USD.
Jed McCaleb left. The original development team (myself, Arthur Britto, Stefan Thomas, Vahe Hovhannisyan, etc) is still here, and Chris Larsen, the first CEO, is still CEO. Ripple Labs currently has more than 80 full time employees working to develop and promote the protocol.
Ripple does not require a centrally administered list of trusted transaction processing servers. That's just like arguing that Bitcoin requires a centrally administered list of valid transaction formats. Substantial agreement does not require central administration.