Ripple Coins

[adamstgBit]

ok lets say i get 30$PPUSD into the my ripple account

and i want to exchange that 30$PPUSD for 1BTC

does ripple allow me to do this? would it be like placing an order on an exchange?

Yep, one of the things in the Ripple ledger is an order book between any pair of currencies. There isn't much volume right now, but it's there.

Edit: Note that WeExchange BTC IOU's are a different currency from Bitstamp BTC IOU's are different from moocowpong1 BTC IOU's. There can be a different exchange rate for each if people value them differently.

k now i love Ripple  

Note that WeExchange BTC IOU's are a different currency from Bitstamp BTC IOU's are different from moocowpong1 BTC IOU's. There can be a different exchange rate for each if people value them differently.

There is an important difference between IOUs denominated in the same currency and IOUs denominated in different currencies. Changing currencies always requires going through an order book and taking from one or more offers. Changing the issuer of an IOU without changing the currency doesn't require an offer and can instead just ripple through someone who holds the IOU you want and wants the IOU you hold.

Say you have WeExchange/BTC and need to pay someone Bitstamp/BTC. You can ripple through anyone who holds Bitstamp/BTC, has extended credit to WeExchange/BTC, and does not hold WeExchange/BTC that equals or exceeds their credit. You would have to pay two transfer fees, which right now is something like .7% in total. (I hope competition will eventually bring this down.)

If you weren't in a hurry though, you could just drop your credit limit to the exchange whose IOUs you don't want to hold and raise the limit to the exchange whose IOUs you do want to hold. Once the next upgrade to Ripple pathfinding gets pushed out, people who need to go the other direction will prefer you to ripple through, and so (hopefully) the exchange will happen gradually for you (thanks to people who need to go the other way) at no cost to you because they pay the fees.

seems kinda complicated tho...

I look forward to trying it out and see how it feels

[JoelKatz]

seems kinda complicated tho...

It is definitely complicated "under the hood". The trick for us is going to be hiding the complications from users. That is a significant challenge.

[gogxmagog]

Ok, so I got my 50K coins from the giveaway, now what?  I thought they had a community that I could lend to and be paid back (idk if with interest or not, can someone shed light on this?) and earn security points or whatever so that people knew I wasnt a scammer, but from looking at the website, it doesnt seem like there is any place to do this.  So what can be done with them?

The point of the giveaways is to allow you to create an account, fund transactions, and test the system to see how it works. Real world applications are still pretty limited but, hopefully, growing rapidly.

We're promoting Ripple as a payment system like PayPal or mailing someone a check. Using it for community/personal credit is possible, but not likely to be significantly useful in the real world for awhile.

While we are working on eliminating a few of the step, the basic way you use it now is like this:

1) You create a Ripple account.

2) You open an account at a gateway (currently WeExchange or BitStamp).

3) You configure your Ripple account to trust the gateway to hold some amount of money for you in some denomination.

3) You deposit funds of some sort with the gateway. They could mean you send them Bitcoins, dollars, or any other currency.

4) You "withdraw" the funds from your gateway account to your Ripple account. You now hold "IOUs" from the gateway in the Ripple system. This works much like a bank balance -- if you have $50 in the bank, that means the bank owes you $50.

5) You can now send and receive money by exchanging your IOUs on the Ripple system with anyone who is willing to take them. You can exchange currencies, switch to IOUs from a different gateway (if that's what you need to pay someone, for example).

6) When someone pays you $50, they do it by making your gateway owe you $50 more. When you pay someone $50, you basically make your gateway owe you $50 less and their gateway owe them $50 more. If you trade USD for Bitcoins, you wind up with your gateway owing you Bitcoins on the Ripple network.

7) If at some point you want to get some of these currencies out of Ripple, you command your Ripple account to withdraw them into your gateway account.

8 ) You can withdraw funds from your gateway account using any withdrawal method the gateway supports. For Bitcoins, for example, they'll transfer them to any Bitcoin address you specify.

This is exactly how exchanges work now. You deposit USD at an exchange and have USD in your exchange account. For the exchange itself, you and someone else swap exchange IOUs so that the exchange now owes you Bitcoins instead of USD. You then withdraw the Bitcoins from the exchange account. Same thing, though there are a few extra steps right now.

The basic idea is that because some people have withdraw on demand agreements with a gateway, they'll value those IOUs at very close to face value. That will make everyone value those IOUs at close to face value.

I am having some trouble understanding how to use this. regarding step #7. i funded X amount of BTC to bitstamp, then I sent that x btc to ripple wallet. I was credited same amount of btc as a credit (i actually wanted XRP) so i went to bitstamp and saw i still have the same amount of btc available(?) I withdrew it to my personal btc wallet. nothing happens. I hit "cancel at bitstamp and voila, transaction goes through. over at ripple it still says i have the credit, at bitstamp my account is empty, and i have no btc incoming to my wallet. i am not enjoying this experience. please help.

[gogxmagog]

nevermind, i got the btc back. still confusing tho. i mostly found it odd/difficult that I could only get IOU credit and not actual ripple. plus, how do i know the exchange rate for this type of transaction? I would imagine you could sell a lot of XRP if you figured this out, yet you might also pay out a lot of btc. i dont think i like this system very much, feels like you want people to buy in (IOUs), but not really cash out (btc). although I want to hold XRP, I still want to access it easily, plus I want XRP, not an IOU.

It would be good if you can make this way easier to understand, i.e. what is the value of holding IOUs, or even the elusive XRP? all i was able to do was move a tiny amount of btc back and forth from my wallet-to bitstamp - to ripple (in the form of IOU only, by the way) and then back to bitstamp then back to my wallet. plus i got totally stressed out for about 1/2 an hour.

i understand i am probably not "getting it" but I'm not completely stupid (maybe slightly above average intelligence) so if I am flummoxed by this system, you guys need to do a LOT of work on explaining it to about 60% of your potential user base.

[JoelKatz]

nevermind, i got the btc back. still confusing tho. i mostly found it odd/difficult that I could only get IOU credit and not actual ripple.

If you want to change currencies, you need to convert. Otherwise, you're just depositing and withdrawing.

plus, how do i know the exchange rate for this type of transaction? I would imagine you could sell a lot of XRP if you figured this out, yet you might also pay out a lot of btc. i dont think i like this system very much, feels like you want people to buy in (IOUs), but not really cash out (btc). although I want to hold XRP, I still want to access it easily, plus I want XRP, not an IOU.

Just make a payment to yourself. It will tell you how much it will cost you.

It would be good if you can make this way easier to understand, i.e. what is the value of holding IOUs, or even the elusive XRP? all i was able to do was move a tiny amount of btc back and forth from my wallet-to bitstamp - to ripple (in the form of IOU only, by the way) and then back to bitstamp then back to my wallet. plus i got totally stressed out for about 1/2 an hour.

BitStamp IOUs are valued by many people at very close to face value. A $1 BitStamp IOU is basically as good as a dollar.