what does bitcoin have going for it?
answer: hype.
i know cryptocurrencies are the future, but until the mainstream accepts it, btc could well go down to who the hell knows. i hope not back to single digit levels.
the good news is this is just the beginning. there are other cryptos people can speculate on and make money off as the technology keeps improving, evolving and slowly being used and accepted by the mainstream.
my bet is on ripple.
edit: even then, if cryptos are widely accepted, its value would still go up and down like the usd, eur, gbp, etc..
Ripple is a scam. It is controlled by a single corporation that kept the vast majority of the coins for itself.
Did you know the market cap for Ripple is actually higher than bitcoin. That's how ridiculous ripple is. Most people will never use trust it and thus never use it. I know I never will.
Stop focusing on the intents of the creators in terms of whatever profit they might turn. As an individual that has been heavily involved in the finance industry I strongly believe that the system they have designed will be the future of financial transactions. Whether it is Ripple itself or a system heavily based on Ripple, or even relative "intranets" using a Ripple-like system in between business networks. In fact, if Ripple itself DOES stick, you will likely find yourself transacting in bitcoin over the Ripple network.
Why shouldn't the creators get paid for what they've done? The potential of the system behind the company is massive, as big if not bigger than bitcoin, and to be honest full mainstream acceptance of Ripple will probably happen before John Q. Public finally submits to Bitcoin for the simple fact that they can transact in their own currencies which helps them to feel secure, and they can experiment with bitcoin without being worried about the trouble of both cashing in-- and out-- of their own native currency.
There is no scam. They created an extremely interesting and useful system. The beauty of XRP is not in its value as a currency but in its value as an intermediary. Whatever money the company makes off of them is well deserved, and I don't think it will be nearly be as much as the first few people to start mining bitcoin would have made if they had held on to their stake.
