Would ripple help you move dollars from 1 exchange to another for arbitrage?

[notig]

I was wondering... right now it's pretty easy to move your bitcoins around from exchange to exchange. But moving your money is a different ballgame

would ripple enabled exchanges one day be able to let you move dollars back and forth and do arbitrage that way? is that even possible?

[🏰 TradeFortress 🏰]

It would help you move dollar IOUs, yes, but not actual dollars guaranteed by a bank insured by the FDIC. Which is a pretty horrible idea, just take a look at Bitfloor, bitcoin24, that Brazil exchange, etc..

There is also the regulatory issues of bearer instruments.

[freequant]

I was wondering... right now it's pretty easy to move your bitcoins around from exchange to exchange. But moving your money is a different ballgame

would ripple enabled exchanges one day be able to let you move dollars back and forth and do arbitrage that way? is that even possible?

Yes, with a small intermediary step: each exchange issues their own IOUs, so unless they accept each other's IOU (which may be the case of smaller exchanges trying to gain market share, but unlikely the case of large dominant exchanges like MtGox who have no interest facilitating exchange switching) you will need to do a cross-issuers IOU trade (same currency, but different issuers) to exchange your IOUs from exchange AAA from which you have withdrawn your balance to IOUs of exchange BBB on which you are wanting to deposit your funds.

You can already test that on BTC (bitstamp) / BTC (weex). At the moment, liquidity is low (when there are orders at all), therefore spread tends to be large, so not yet practically usable for arbitrage. But in the future, when / if Ripple is used more widely and attracts enough liquidity from all exchanges, cross-issuer conversions will be fast, cheap and easy, so you won't need anymore to go the external route of redeemable codes or bank wires.

[dchapes]

You can already test that on BTC (bitstamp) / BTC (weex). At the moment, liquidity is low (when there are orders at all), therefore spread tends to be large

You don't need orders at all when the currency code (in this case "USD") is the same. If someone extends trust to more than one person/gateway with the same code that is telling Ripple that that person is thinks they're both equally good and can be exchanged 1:1 (within that persons trust limits). Such people may notice the balance on the individual trust lines move while their overall balance stays the same. There are currently people doing this and they're acting as liquidity providers.

Currently, since Bitstamp charges .2% on IOU transfers and WeExchange charges .5% then the person initiating the exchange pays .7% for that part of the path.

To try this out yourself, if you hold only only of USD-Bitstamp or USD-WeExchange, go to the "send" page and enter the destination of the opposite gateway (e.g. a send to WeExchange if you hold USD-Bitstamp) and enter a small amount (just don't hit the "SEND" button if you're just looking). If you enter USD$1 it should say you can get $1 to the destination by sending USD$1.007.

So, to answer the original poster, you can right now exchange USD between WeExchange and Bitstamp at .7% in seconds. I've done it a bunch of times and it's faster than moving BTC between exchanges through the blockchain.

[dchapes]

It would help you move dollar IOUs, yes, but not actual dollars

Repeating the same shit over and over doesn't make it true.

What do you think your balance at the exchange is? It's an IOU to start with.

[🏰 TradeFortress 🏰]

It would help you move dollar IOUs, yes, but not actual dollars

Repeating the same shit over and over doesn't make it true.

What the fuck do you think your balance at the exchange is??? It's a fucking IOU to start with.

I don't need an IOU for bitcoin. I have it since I control the private key.

[dchapes]

I don't need an IOU for bitcoin.

If you use an exchange you do.

[🏰 TradeFortress 🏰]

When I use an exchange, I have a balance on that site. I do not use that debt as a currency to spend on chickens, I use it on the exchange. I also don't leave that balance there thinking it's going to be safe, I cash it except for a small amount of float.

Sure, bank deposits are IOUs, but that's obviously valued a whole lot more than a balance on Bitcoin-24, and you are waiting to shit yourself if you think a bitcoin exchange is an acceptable way to store all your USD.

[dchapes]

When I use an exchange, I have a balance on that site. I do not use that debt as a currency to spend on chickens, I use it on the exchange

So how is your use of an exchange any different that what the original poster asked?  He briefly puts the funds into Ripple and then sends them out to the other gateway.

Answer: it's not. You've shown repeatedly that you're willfully ignorant when it comes to Ripple. I bet everyone that's ever actually spent a few minutes using Ripple laughs at all your posts about it. If it weren't so stupid it would be funny to me too.

[freequant]

You can already test that on BTC (bitstamp) / BTC (weex). At the moment, liquidity is low (when there are orders at all), therefore spread tends to be large

You don't need orders at all when the currency code (in this case "USD") is the same. If someone extends trust to more than one person/gateway with the same code that is telling Ripple that that person is thinks they're both equally good and can be exchanged 1:1 (within that persons trust limits). Such people may notice the balance on the individual trust lines move while their overall balance stays the same. There are currently people doing this and they're acting as liquidity providers.

Currently, since Bitstamp charges .2% on IOU transfers and WeExchange charges .5% then the person initiating the exchange pays .7% for that part of the path.

To try this out yourself, if you hold only only of USD-Bitstamp or USD-WeExchange, go to the "send" page and enter the destination of the opposite gateway (e.g. a send to WeExchange if you hold USD-Bitstamp) and enter a small amount (just don't hit the "SEND" button if you're just looking). If you enter USD$1 it should say you can get $1 to the destination by sending USD$1.007.

So, to answer the original poster, you can right now exchange USD between WeExchange and Bitstamp at .7% in seconds. I've done it a bunch of times and it's faster than moving BTC between exchanges through the blockchain.

Thanks for clarification.
On the other hand, this will create a massive mess when there are name clashes between currencies.
With all the altcoins popping here and there, this isn't even unlikely.

[🏰 TradeFortress 🏰]

Answer: it's not. You've shown repeatedly that you're willfully ignorant when it comes to Ripple. I bet everyone that's ever actually spent a few minutes using Ripple laughs at all your posts about it. If it weren't so stupid it would be funny to me too.

LOL. I used Ripple since the closed beta.

[dchapes]

On the other hand, this will create a massive mess when there are name clashes between currencies.
With all the altcoins popping here and there, this isn't even unlikely.

It's in beta and all advanced features are not complete. See https://ripple.com/wiki/Currency_Format

Currency 160-bit identifier is the hash of the currency definition block, which is also its storage index. Contains: Domain of issuer. Issuer's account. Auditor's account (if any). Client display information. Hash of policy document.

[🏰 TradeFortress 🏰]

Satoshi should have released bitcoin when it was 20% complete!

Oh yeah, and give 11 million coins to himself. AND not open source it.

[btcmind]

You can already test that on BTC (bitstamp) / BTC (weex). At the moment, liquidity is low (when there are orders at all), therefore spread tends to be large

You don't need orders at all when the currency code (in this case "USD") is the same. If someone extends trust to more than one person/gateway with the same code that is telling Ripple that that person is thinks they're both equally good and can be exchanged 1:1 (within that persons trust limits). Such people may notice the balance on the individual trust lines move while their overall balance stays the same. There are currently people doing this and they're acting as liquidity providers.

Currently, since Bitstamp charges .2% on IOU transfers and WeExchange charges .5% then the person initiating the exchange pays .7% for that part of the path.

To try this out yourself, if you hold only only of USD-Bitstamp or USD-WeExchange, go to the "send" page and enter the destination of the opposite gateway (e.g. a send to WeExchange if you hold USD-Bitstamp) and enter a small amount (just don't hit the "SEND" button if you're just looking). If you enter USD$1 it should say you can get $1 to the destination by sending USD$1.007.

So, to answer the original poster, you can right now exchange USD between WeExchange and Bitstamp at .7% in seconds. I've done it a bunch of times and it's faster than moving BTC between exchanges through the blockchain.

Thanks, for finally explaining this!

[chriswen]

You can only transfer the USD between the two gateways if their is a liquidity provider.

[wiggi]

You can only transfer the USD between the two gateways if their is a liquidity provider.

And liquidity providers do it for free just because they trust both of them, while exchanges charge 0.7%?

The exchanges could post bids (in size) for each others USD-IOUs and BTC-IOUs at 0.99x
They would earn the spread instead of a fixed fee, but
everyone could compete with them and narrow the spread.