But bitcoin is a currency and ripple is mainly an exchange system. This is like when reporters call mt gox hacks, bitcoin hacks.
The key issues are Ripple is an IOU debt system, not just an exchange system, the nodes are privately owned for profit, and the Ripple network is centralized with a transaction reversal capability. All these things fly in the face of the primary Bitcoin design decisions. Anyone who doubts this should read Satoshi Nakamiri's white paper on Bitcoin which can be found here
http://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf the opening paragraphs says it all.
Abstract.
A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online
payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a
financial institution. Digital signatures provide part of the solution, but the main
benefits are lost if a trusted third party is still required to prevent double-spending.
We propose a solution to the double-spending problem using a peer-to-peer network.
The network timestamps transactions by hashing them into an ongoing chain of
hash-based proof-of-work, forming a record that cannot be changed without redoing
the proof-of-work. The longest chain not only serves as proof of the sequence of
events witnessed, but proof that it came from the largest pool of CPU power. As
long as a majority of CPU power is controlled by nodes that are not cooperating to
attack the network, they'll generate the longest chain and outpace attackers. The
network itself requires minimal structure. Messages are broadcast on a best effort
basis, and nodes can leave and rejoin the network at will, accepting the longest
proof-of-work chain as proof of what happened while they were gone.
Lets talk about OpenCoin's ethics. It's a deliberate ploy, on a naive public, to use a name like OpenCoin for a closed proprietary debt network, and try to talk about it in the same sentence as Bitcoin. Using underhand tactics such as paid infiltrators from OpenCoin to forums, conferences and other social media, makes me think they might also be behind some of the recent DDoS attacks on Bitcoin nodes and exchanges, plus some of the bot driven trade manipulations to try and keep down the price of BTC.
