Ripple: A pre-mine? Does it matter?

[misterbigg]

The thread was locked but I'm re-opening it because the information is still relevant.

[misterbigg]

People who criticize Ripple without stating facts are in my opinion just trolling. Such as a certain person who put up a website dedicated to trashing Ripple. Here's a well-reasoned analysis which states facts.

[🏰 TradeFortress 🏰]

People who criticize Ripple without stating facts are in my opinion just trolling. Such as a certain person who put up a website dedicated to trashing Ripple. Here's a well-reasoned analysis which states facts.

Nothing there. Kinda ironic.

Please also try reading RippleScam first.

Also, this is a very big assumption to make given the profit orientated goals of OpenCoin Inc. They will open source it if it makes commercial sense to do so - and there's only commercial sense when people demand it to be open sourced, and for OpenCoin Inc to stop violating open source licenses and release their source code

Note: The following analysis assumes that the Ripple system eventually becomes open sourced, gets decentralized, and that rigorous mathematical analysis proves that the system is robust and fulfills its technical promises.

[misterbigg]

Also, this is a very big assumption to make given the profit orientated goals of OpenCoin Inc. They will open source it if it makes commercial sense to do so - and there's only commercial sense when people demand it to be open sourced, and for OpenCoin Inc to stop violating open source licenses and release their source code

How are they violating an open source license? They are not using any GPL-ed code.

I find it interesting that you made your thread "moderated" to prevent any sort of critical discussion. My thoughts on this is that you are just pissed off because they came up with a really amazing idea which just happens to have the biggest pre-mine in the history of crypto-currency.

But is it a scam? I will concede that if it doesn't become open source then there are some significant problems. However, I see no evidence of an evil plan.

[🏰 TradeFortress 🏰]

How are they violating an open source license? They are not using any GPL-ed code.

And you've got proof to back it up? Hmm?

I find it interesting that you made your thread "moderated" to prevent any sort of critical discussion.

It's not to prevent critical discussion, it's to prevent dumps of copypastas. Feel free to discuss issues raised on the site.

My thoughts on this is that you are just pissed off because they came up with a really amazing idea which just happens to have the biggest pre-mine in the history of crypto-currency.

There are problems with the "debt is money" model, in addition to how it is centralized and closed source.

But is it a scam? I will concede that if it doesn't become open source then there are some significant problems. However, I see no evidence of an evil plan.

You don't call something open source if it is not open source, like how it's illegal to advertise "ALL DRINKS FREE" in your signs, and when people enter you tell them "oh this will happen eventually".

The reason why I created a website is for SEO. RippleScam would have succeeded when it is the #2 result when someone searches for "ripple", and of course the #1 result for "ripple scam". I'm also looking into advertising this on AdWords for the terms meanwhile.

[jtimon]

They're not distributing rippled, so there can be no violation. You're not mandated to share your modifications on free software, butwhen you choose to do it, you have to follow the rules.
I don't think you can violate a license with code running on your server, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

[rmbc]

I'll be brief

Re: Ripple: A pre-mine? Does it matter?

yes, it's a premine and yes, it matters.

Note: The following analysis assumes that the Ripple system eventually becomes open sourced, gets decentralized, and that rigorous mathematical analysis proves that the system is robust and fulfills its technical promises.

Your whole analysis is moot until these assumptions become true (if ever)
anyone buying into ripple today runs a considerable additional risk because today, it's not open sourced, not decentralized and not verified.

[mmeijeri]

But if you only use it as a BTC / fiat exchange, then you'll be able to benefit from it greatly.

[salt]

They're not distributing rippled, so there can be no violation. You're not mandated to share your modifications on free software, butwhen you choose to do it, you have to follow the rules.
I don't think you can violate a license with code running on your server, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

The gateway software contains a rippled binary I believe.  If so, they have distributed it.

[JoelKatz]

The gateway software contains a rippled binary I believe.  If so, they have distributed it.

There really is no "gateway software". There's just the rippled software. To my knowledge, we have not distributed the binary to anyone who has not also received the source. In any event, the only licenses the rippled software source code is subject to are:

1) The OpenCoin license.
2) The OpenSSL license.
3) The Boost license.
4) The LevelDB license.
5) The Bitcoin license.

Rippled also uses SQLite3 and json-cpp which are in the public domain. Additional licenses might apply to the JavaScript unit tests.

Update: As there seems to be some confusion, the portions of the Rippled source developed by OpenCoin are *not* available under an ISC-like license yet. The OpenCoin license on the server source is still strictly proprietary. This will change, but it has not changed yet.

[salt]

The gateway software contains a rippled binary I believe.  If so, they have distributed it.

There really is no "gateway software". There's just the rippled software. To my knowledge, we have not distributed the binary to anyone who has not also received the source. In any event, the only licenses the rippled software source code is subject to are:

1) The OpenCoin license.
2) The OpenSSL license.
3) The Boost license.
4) The LevelDB license.
5) The Bitcoin license.

Rippled also uses SQLite3 and json-cpp which are in the public domain. Additional licenses might apply to the JavaScript unit tests.

I stand corrected, thanks for clearing this up.  The Ripple wiki https://ripple.com/wiki/Rippled_build_instructions lists ctags http://ctags.sourceforge.net/ as an optional package, which has a GPL license.   Will this be respected, or does its optional status mean it is not necessary?

[ahbritto]

The Ripple wiki https://ripple.com/wiki/Rippled_build_instructions lists ctags http://ctags.sourceforge.net/ as an optional package, which has a GPL license.   Will this be respected, or does its optional status mean it is not necessary?

It is not necessary. It is not distributed as part of Ripple nor is it a dependency.

[PrintMule]

I do not get why it even is a discussion? The fact that ripple was premined in such amounts already makes it a failcurrency. It's only meaning is to be an IOU ponzi scheme, to feed of other greedy people.

[//v]

A currency can still have value even if it took little to no effort to obtain the material being used as currency. Shell money, for example, or USD. Something has value if we give it value. The "pre mined" argument is not valid in my opinion because it supposes that all currencies should be created in the same way that bitcoins are created. There may be other legitimate concerns about ripple, but I don't believe this to be one of them.

[LoweryCBS]

Ripple may be over before it even starts.

Ripple-killer: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=212490.0

[mullick]

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.

Lol at this statement, sorry. A distribution method does impact the currency. If it didn't satoshi could have just sent coins at random to a few users. Would bitcoin be the same if he did?

As far as a fair distribution method. How about bounties and contests? Make people have to work to get xrp as well as giveaways.. The users that put in work get more xrp