Scratch: sorry just looked you up in the DB. There was a bug causing your page to be skipped. funding you now.

If anyone else didn't get coins that has an old enough account please let us know.

For those with newer bitcointalk accounts we will be starting another more general giveaway soon.

We should have new forum software finally up today. that should fix the issue.

You can use http. All these functions: https://ripple.com/wiki/RPC_API can be called via JSON-RPC which is just a POST.

If the main one is down you can use s2.ripple.com. RPC port is 51234

> Is it possible to deduce approximate number of OpenCoin employees/Ripple developers
there are 11 of us. Not to ruin the fun but I don't think you could figure it out from the ledger.

Yes in the same way that 1 USD on paypal or dwolla or mtgox is worth less than 1 USD.

No OpenCoin can never issue any more XRP. In the same way satoshi can never issue more bitcoins.

Yes XRP is a currency and can be used as such.

Yes we will open source the ripple software. We understand that that is essential if the system is ever to gain adoption.

We are open to suggestions about how to distribute the coins. We are going to try to be as fair as possible but after the distribution will it really matter how we did it? A currency's distribution method doesn't really impact its usefulness.

> Are there XRP IOUs at all?
nope

> Why do you think, say USD IOU issued by gateway A will always be in par with USD IOU issued by gateway B?
They might not be. there can easily be an exchange rate between them in the distributed exchange.

>I think if he gives you a 10 EUR bill in meatspace, you use the ripple system to send him 10 ripple-Euros. From his and your point of view, everything is settled.
yep


>So how does the system protect against credit default swap shenanigans?
What are you exactly worried about? I have a feeling it isn't credit default swaps since that is a complicated financial instrument that doesn't really apply to ripple.

tldr: Ripple doesn't require anymore trust than bitcoin

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I see a lot of people misunderstanding the way Ripple works so I'm going to attempt to clarify.

There are two pieces to the ripple system, XRP and IOUs.

XRP works essentially like bitcoin. No counter party risk. You can send xrp to anyone with a ripple account. No trust etc.

The IOUs are more complicated. Every IOU has an Issuer and a Currency. The Issuer is simply a ripple account. You can only hold IOUs from issuers you have agreed to trust.

A gateway is some business that has agreed to issue and redeem ripple IOUs. You take your money to a gateway and the gateway gives you a ripple IOU. You can send this IOU to other people, trade it for XRP or BTC or whatever. You can take your IOU back to the gateway and the gateway will send you money. This is essentially what paypal or dwolla or banks do now.

This is the same as sending USD to mtgox. You are trusting mtgox to the amount you have sent in. You can send that USD to another person that has chosen to trust mtgox in the form of a mtgox code.

So you can see that Ripple doesn't require more trust or counter party risk then you are already used to.

The powerful thing is that Ripple links all these gateways and that there is an exchange in Ripple where you can swap these various IOUs so you can trade between all kinds of currencies and issuers.


We hope to explain things better on ripple.com soon.

We are working on some videos that should hopefully explain the concept more clearly.

Hello Bitcoin Forum,

We are the company behind the new Ripple open payment system. We are pleased to announce the first official XRP giveaway. To thank the Bitcoin community for their support and to encourage people to experiment with Ripple and provide feedback, we are targeting this giveaway to users of the Bitcoin Forum.

Anyone whose Bitcoin Forum account was created before February 19, 2013, 18:45 UTC, is eligible to receive XRP.

You may claim your XRP simply by posting your Ripple address in this thread. Please note that your replies will be processed by a script, so make sure that your post contains only your Ripple address.

We are currently giving 1,000 XRP to anyone who claims. This amount will decrease over the course of the giveaway. We are giving to a limited number of people a day so it might be awhile after your post before you receive your XRP.

By requesting XRP, you acknowledge and agree that the transfer thereof is entirely automatic and does not constitute a contract, warranty, or agreement of any kind between you and OpenCoin Inc. Please remember Ripple is still in early beta so expect bugs.

Enjoy!
OpenCoin Inc.

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Post formatting

Create a ripple account here https://ripple.com/client A Ripple address looks similar to a bitcoin address but begins with an "r".  For example, our Ripple address is:

r3kmLJN5D28dHuH8vZNUZpMC43pEHpaocV

Your post should not contain any text besides the address and should have no special formatting. Posts which don't match this format will be skipped, and you'll have to post your address again to get XRP.

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Rules

Your Bitcoin Forum account must have been created before February 19, 2013, 18:45 UTC, in order to be eligible. Only one Ripple address per user, please. (All but the first valid address you post will be ignored).

We will periodically post updates to the post below to indicate when XRP have been given. We will be limiting the amount of people we give to per day, and this amount may be adjusted, so please be patient as it may take some time for the script to get to your post.

If you have any questions or concerns about this giveaway, or about Ripple in general, please don't hesitate to ask us either on this forum or ours.