So, is Ripple a scam?

[Jaxkr]

I read the site http://ripplescam.org/, and compared it to my own observations. Everything seemed to check out.
For example, their "source code" that's linked in the footer is just some JavaScript UI stuff.
What are your opinions on this? It's centralized and closed source. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's a scam.

[bitrain]

 Some folks here just have some buzz in their asses 'cause, for sure, ripple is the next big thing, but they can't be real early adopters and mine it en masse. Give them a coin or payment system you can't mine with their ASICs/GPU farms and you'll be claimed for scam. Just that. + some of them sold xpr receved in giveaway just like 18 times cheaper comparing to actual price - it made them hate the entire concept as well...

[darkmule]

I read the site http://ripplescam.org/, and compared it to my own observations. Everything seemed to check out.
For example, their "source code" that's linked in the footer is just some JavaScript UI stuff.
What are your opinions on this? It's centralized and closed source. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's a scam.

I'm not sure it's a scam but it certainly seems like a dreadful idea.

[erk]

Ripple is not a coin, it's a kind of an IOU debt system, it has tokens, but that's the only similarity.

Who wants debt.

[darkmule]

I don't know whether it's a scam, though I suppose it could be some kind of premining scam. 

It just seems it has a number of serious flaws that could very well be fatal.  I'm staying away.

[iram1068]

No this is not a scam. The difference, ripple is controlled by a company just like paypal, payza, moneybookers, libertyreserve, webmoney, perfectmoney. They are created for profit.

[AzureEngineer]

Ripple is what you would get if you took away all of the positives of Bitcoin and compiled the leftover mess into a currency.

[itsgoldbaby]

Not a scam, just a debt based system which is not needed IMO. Plus OpenCoin holds all the XRP's, they decide what to do with them and they are needed to actually use your ripple account. Calling it a scam is silly, but it is a terrible idea.

[EndTheFed321]

So, Ripple is not a SCAM but a Terrible idea

Why is it a Terrible idea?

I don`t get it we could possibly sell some of our bitdust for ripple? or deposit some bitdust to convert to fiat if we need it. with less in fees. I think and hope this is a legit biz 

[itsgoldbaby]

So, Ripple is not a SCAM but a Terrible idea

Why is it a Terrible idea?

I don`t get it we could possibly sell some of our bitdust for ripple? or deposit some bitdust to convert to fiat if we need it. with less in fees. I think and hope this is a legit biz 

My opinion is it's a terrible idea, I don't want peoples debt or IOU's. 

[Kouye]

No this is not a scam. The difference, ripple is controlled by a company just like paypal, payza, moneybookers, libertyreserve, webmoney, perfectmoney. They are created for profit.

Ripple is no more than a promise.
And since (amost) everyone here is just trying to get richer instead of backing up a great alternative to bank world-control, Ripple is bound to be just another villain's nest... Sadly.

[EndTheFed321]

so Ripple is debt or IOU's  why would anyone like Ripple if this is the case??

[//v]

The ripple network is basically a transaction system. Just like our current financial system is based on debt, so is ripple (as far as I understand it).

So you can love it, hate it, whatever, but I wouldn't call it a scam, unless you believe that our current financial system is also a scam (which I wouldn't necessarily disagree with).

Those that would argue that ripple is just some fly-by-night scam operation have not been very convincing in my opinion.

[Twerka]

Its like PayPal. It's centralized

[fenican]

Short answer is yes, it is a scam.  No reason to use it

[Francesco]

No this is not a scam. The difference, ripple is controlled by a company just like paypal, payza, moneybookers, libertyreserve, webmoney, perfectmoney. They are created for profit.

It is at the moment, but it is stated that it's in beta. People who believe in it count on the fact that it will become open source and distributed.

Ripple is no more than a promise.

Do you use an exchange? The numbers you see in you balance are a 'promise'.
Just don't trust people you wouldn't trust otherwise.

[Jaxkr]

From what you've guys have said (thank BTW), I've gathered that Ripple is essentially PayPal that trades in a unit that they invented and control.

[coinerd]

Personally, I think that a lot of people here are eager to trade ripple and talk about it like it's another alt-coin/cryptocurrency.

While they're adopted a blockchain for their ledger, ripples aren't actually intended to be used as currency, and if I understand it correctly different ripples will eventually carry different values (yes as debt) within the ripple network.

I'm not 100% if that last bit is a good way to describe it, and I haven't been able to get any ripples yet.

However as soon as I do I'll be putting the Rippled client up and exploring their APIs.

The client app is currently available in source at https://github.com/rippleFoundation and they are offering bounties (in ripples) for bugs reported in the software or the system right now.

Anyways from what I've been able to sort out there's a lot of butthurt over ripple as a "scam crypto-currency" right now, when that's not what it's intended to be at all.  This consists of the accusations of "premine" and "pump and dump" and whatnot.

Those guys (The ripples founders or insiders as they're called here)are likely to become fabulously rich if this works.  There's no need to run a short con for a few million bucks. And (also if it gets going like they want) it will be the frosting on the cake of cryptocurrency.

Right now, it's just that they gave a bunch out here at bitcointalk.org and people want to speculate in them. Why not, apparently it's been quite profitable.

In the end, those 100b ripples need to be moving, to make the real money here. It's a centralized, trust based system and trying to compare it to bitcoin just because it has a blockchain is like saying "Hey this orange fruit is a really shitty apple".

Last I read you can fund an account for 200 ripples or less now, and the account reserve (unspendable ripples) is 50.  I read somewhere else you may be able to fund for as low as 100 but i didn't read that anywhere official.

Just my thoughts on it, I'm by no means an expert.  But I'm about ready to buy a few hundred ripples because what these guys are achieving with the campaign is keeping a lot of people "wondering" when they could be in there learning how it works.


I'm trying to sort it out so if you know that I'm completely wrong about something feel free to correct me. Most of what I'm saying is gleaned from their blog/forum/etc or their developer site and github.

[//v]

From what you've guys have said (thank BTW), I've gathered that Ripple is essentially PayPal that trades in a unit that they invented and control.

I would say that it also offers more flexibility in that you can engage in financial transactions across borders without relying on the traditional banking system to convert currency (I think). Also, unlike paypal, there are no significant transaction fees.

[Litvin]

Ripple is not crypto money - scam from bankers and government.
Ripple - is not open source;
Ripple - Each Ripple node is controlled by a private commercial company. It is centralized as a bank or PayPal. Not a decentralized currency.
Ripple - totally 100% with the pre-release issued by Ripple Labs, 65% were left to themselves and 35% sold;
Ripple - not anonymous;
Ripple - emission is possible in unlimited quantities;
Ripple - created by the richest states and banks of the world on the money of monopoly oligarchs, with one purpose to destroy and devalue in the public eye the world of crypto-currencies.
 It is very difficult to destroy bitokoyn, because it is decentralized. Everyone who manages the bitcoins client is peer and conducts transactions around, and everyone who picks up votes with their hashing. Bitcomoin group of kernel developers could be arrested, but new developers will just get the better.
 Take a look at all Bitcoin services that were hacked. MtGox. Bitcoinica. MyBitcoin. InstaWallet. You might lose bitkoyny, which you deposited there - debt - but if you kept the real bitkoy in their purse, they were safe. When a Ripple gateway or currency issuer is hacked, because you can only hold BTC and, for example, debt, you lose them.
   But with Ripple, all that's required is a raid-like what happened to Liberty Dollar-to kill the entire network because of its centralization. The update can be ejected to destroy all XRP and transactions - and this will work, because one object has 51% of the attack on the network. This simply can not be done with Bitcoin, if only with an international attack on mine pool operators, and when this happens, people will simply switch to solo development.
  Ripple supporters (for example, OpenCoin Inc employees who speak their own views) point to small default values that have not been disconnected from the network. Of course, this will not happen. But a sufficiently large default from the lock will lead to a crash - there is a critical mass
 States are afraid of crypto-currencies and criticize them. Ripple is not criticized by the authorities, states, politicians and bankers! You will not hear anything bad about Ripple from them.
 For several years Ripple will eat all the main crypto-currencies - this is the black hole of the crypto-currency market, launched by states and banks. The total capitalization of the crypto-currency market will remain insignificant, and the Ripple capitalization will grow due to the exhaustion of money from other crypto-currencies. When banks artificially depreciate the world's major crypto-currencies, with the help of Ripple, there will then be an unrestricted release of the Ripple (because of its centralization) and the owners' funds will also be depreciated with the help of huge inflation, and subsequently unlimited emissions Ripple will be completely destroyed by banks and their governments.
This will allow states to declare crypto money outlawed and never allow to return to private money and crypt.