Ripple is not a scam - and you may be making yourself vulnerable to actual scams

[WinterParker]

So should I load up on the ripples or what??  It seems all crypto is going to the moon, so I will see ya at the party..

[Sukrim]

Ripple is a decentralized exchange that can trade a LOT of currencies from various issuers. "Ripples" (XRP) are the native asset there, if you think they will go "to the moon" feel free to buy some (I prefer to get mine for free or in exchange for running BOINC), they are not the major reason why Ripple exists though.

[efx]

That's probably the best advice for getting into ripple without risking much.


Though I'm still not completely sold on ripple as a whole, in retrospect I am glad OP made this thread because it is interesting to be able to look at the rippled source finally.

[mmeijeri]

Why does Ripple force me to manually reduce my trust with Bitstamp to zero after a transaction.  Why isn't this automatic?

Could be a good feature request. Being able to set the "require authorisation" bit from the standard client would be nice too, so you can't accidentally end up facilitating payments for and owing money to Jack the Ripper.

[SGExodus]

Because using BTC.Bitstamp on Ripple you can trade over a dozen different currencies both fiat (e.g. CNY) and crypto (e.gg LTC). Using BTC.Bitstamp on Bitstamp internal, you can buy XRP at inflated prices or trade USD.Bitstamp, that's it.

Please send LTC using BTC (it would even theoretically possible!)...

With Ripple you can choose which part of the banking system (if at all) and which interface you want to use. You pay fees only for clearing balances - if you needed to pay banking transaction fees (or Bitcoin transaction fees for that matter) for every single trade on Bitstamp or MtGox, you'd not trade much any more.

I can move LTC to BTC just fine using any existing exchange, such as LTC to Btc-e, buy BTC, then transfer that BTC to the recipient.     

Ripple isn't making things any easier for such process.

To be more seamless, some entities can even run an currency exchange and take say 5% fee, and provide n-ways conversion service.   

There is no need for a "crypto-washed" solution in the equation, especially one that pre-mined 100 billion units of crap and attempt to inflate the value of the craps for their own greed.

[morgaine]

Why are you going through all this hassle when you can just use Bitstamp directly, without Ripple in the middle?

Why lend Bitstamp your hard earned money without interest, and then jump at the opportunity to let them control with whom you can trade?

[mmeijeri]

Why are you going through all this hassle when you can just use Bitstamp directly, without Ripple in the middle?

You can still use Ripple if Bitstamp is temporarily down. There might be a future for gateways that focus exclusively on issuing and redeeming IOUs, without offering a proprietary trading engine.

[PirateButtercup]

In the end, Ripple is a currency agnostic payment and exchange network. It allows people to send any amount in any currency directly to anybody anywhere instantly. No other system, network, exchange or currency can offer a service close to this.

Cypto-coin and fiat zealots who are religiously devoted to their denomination are incapable of rising above their dogma to appreciate the need or value of a secular financial system like Ripple. Even if crypto-coin profit…I mean….prophet….Satoshi Nakamoto, was revealed to be the Ben Bernanke, and he owned up to the million+ BTC that he pre-mined, BTC fundamentalists would remain unfazed. …. They would simply spend the hour or so it would take to get 3 to 6 confirmations to create new denial mechanisms.  

If a currency or payment system cannot be used to transact business instantly, it has no place in the future. BTC cannot be used as a point of sale protocol. It is too slow….plain and simple….end of conversation.

Much to the chagrin of the fundamentalists Bitcoiners, Ripple is the only present way to make BTC viable in the future.

Nonsense.   Ripple offers zero value in the payment system.

For cryptocurrency to cryptocurrency, we can already send any amount directly to anybody anywhere instantly.

For Fiat currency, even with the use of Ripple, you will still need to use the banking system to move the money to the end point.  You can't magically move US$100K from one place to another.     Someone will still need to absorb the banking fee for the transfer.

So why even create a complex system when it doesn't improve things at all?

Instantly means in negligible time. The 10 to 30 minutes needed for BTC transactions is not 'negligible'. Put it in a real world application and imagine McDonald's accepted BTC. LOL...I used to get bent at the little old lady writing out checks....now I've got to wait on you and the superior BTC payment network.

As you've clearly changed the meaning of next to no time (instantly) to mean 10 to 30 minutes. By 'Ripple offers zero value in the payment system' do you mean it offers 10 to 30 times the value of the existing system?

As I said...it's impossible for zealots to grasp. When confronted with the shortcomings of BTC, they'll use every logic fallacy known....change definitions of words, set up straw men, ad hominem attacks, etc.

I didn't know that I could send you Litecoin and you get Bitcoin....let alone USD, EUR, etc. ...and no, you don't have to use the banking system to move money within the Ripple network either. For example, you can put cash in via ZipZap.

Learn the facts first, then feel free to distort them however you choose.

[mmeijeri]

For cryptocurrency to cryptocurrency, we can already send any amount directly to anybody anywhere instantly.

That's not a use case Ripple is intended to facilitate. You can of course choose to make direct XRP payments, just as with any other cryptocurrency.

For Fiat currency, even with the use of Ripple, you will still need to use the banking system to move the money to the end point.  You can't magically move US$100K from one place to another.     Someone will still need to absorb the banking fee for the transfer.

The fee for the netted payments to be exact. Fees at gateways are on the order of 1%, not the 15% fee Western Union charges.

So why even create a complex system when it doesn't improve things at all?

Remittances and buying selling cryptocurrencies against fiat currencies are the killer applications right now.

[SGExodus]

Instantly means in negligible time. The 10 to 30 minutes needed for BTC transactions is not 'negligible'. Put it in a real world application and imagine McDonald's accepted BTC. LOL...I used to get bent at the little old lady writing out checks....now I've got to wait on you and the superior BTC payment network.

As you've clearly changed the meaning of next to no time (instantly) to mean 10 to 30 minutes. By 'Ripple offers zero value in the payment system' do you mean it offers 10 to 30 times the value of the existing system?

As I said...it's impossible for zealots to grasp. When confronted with the shortcomings of BTC, they'll use every logic fallacy known....change definitions of words, set up straw men, ad hominem attacks, etc.

I didn't know that I could send you Litecoin and you get Bitcoin....let alone USD, EUR, etc. ...and no, you don't have to use the banking system to move money within the Ripple network either. For example, you can put cash in via ZipZap.

Learn the facts first, then feel free to distort them however you choose.

Stop being dumb.   Ripple doesn't enable instant payment either. Whatever your send via Ripple is useless until the recipient gets what he really wants.

If a vendor wants to receive 10 BTC for his product/service, getting an instant IOU in Ripple is pointless.   He will still need to wait for 10 to 30 mins for that BTC from Ripple to come into his real wallet.

If a vendor wants to receive $10,000 for his product/service, and he is located in a small town in China, getting an instant IOU in Ripple is pointless.  He will still need to wait for whatever amount of time needed for the money to be wired into his bank account.

[HostFat]

Ripple IOU are the same as money on the Paypal account.
There are many people that uses Paypal all the day (making transactions), for weeks or months without withdraw their money on their bank account.
So the same will be with Ripple, with just some differences (from Paypal), no frozen accounts, no chargeback, no limits of transactions.
Every good gateway can become the new Paypal until there are people that trust him and his services.

Anyway, no one is forced to use Ripple, if you prefer, you can still use Bitcoin directly ... or Bitcoin on some Ripple gateway.

[hypostatization]

Stop being dumb.   Ripple doesn't enable instant payment either. Whatever your send via Ripple is useless until the recipient gets what he really wants.

If a vendor wants to receive 10 BTC for his product/service, getting an instant IOU in Ripple is pointless.   He will still need to wait for 10 to 30 mins for that BTC from Ripple to come into his real wallet.

If a vendor wants to receive $10,000 for his product/service, and he is located in a small town in China, getting an instant IOU in Ripple is pointless.  He will still need to wait for whatever amount of time needed for the money to be wired into his bank account.

Need to withdraw diminishes as the network expands; the IOU becomes a functional placeholder for the currency. Depending on the currency, withdrawal from the gateway could be rapid---and potentially instant if banks begin to act as gateway services.

XRP itself can also be used, eliminating need to deal in IOU.

Both IOU and XRP beat BTC in speed, no contest.

Bitcoin itself is great, and Ripple supports Bitcoin for faster payment transactions.

Ripple is a promising alternative to the closed centralized payment systems that are overtaking the landscape; they are able to thrive based on the limitations of Bitcoin.

[SGExodus]

Ripple IOU are the same as money on the Paypal account.
There are many people that uses Paypal all the day (making transactions), for weeks or months without withdraw their money on their bank account.
So the same will be with Ripple, with just some differences (from Paypal), no frozen accounts, no chargeback, no limits of transactions.
Every good gateway can become the new Paypal until there are people that trust him and his services.

People will use good gateway directly without the need to go through an obscured crypto-washed intermediary like Ripple.

[HostFat]

People will use good gateway directly without the need to go through an obscured crypto-washed intermediary like Ripple.

The gateway is a part of all the Ripple system, and there isn't anything obscure in Ripple.

I come to the conclusion that maybe if someone isn't able to understand Ripple, he isn't also aware to how Bitcoin works.

[LushVixen]

Is Ripple decentralized in distribution and network?

[CoinManiac]

Someone fund my ripple wallet with 5 or 10 XRP to get started..  

[HostFat]

Is Ripple decentralized in distribution and network?

Yes.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6867324

[miramare]

Ripple is misunderstood.

Centralization is a threat to Bitcoin and most Alts. Ripple is a complementary system for all currencies. It battles against centralization, and in entirely different ways than most cryptos. It targets eradicating centralization issues at different levels, with its own unique decentralization model. Yet, most people are unaware, misinformed---or have vested interested in attacking Ripple.

MasterCoin, NXT, eMunie, and Monetas are all systems attempting to solve similar issues. They are all worth taking the time to evaluate and understand. I do not claim any one system solves all major threats we are facing today.

Why are so many misinformed?

http://ripplescam.org/ (inaccurate and outdated)

In almost any discussion this site comes up, despite it offering no real value. Understanding why Ripple is important means understanding major issues threatening most crypto currencies today.

When you trade on almost any exchange, you are embracing centralization. Likewise, the same is true for most Bitcoin payment systems. Ripple is derided for its decentralized IOU system, yet it is designed specifically to mitigate the threat posed by centralized exchanges and payment systems. In using those systems, you are embracing closed IOU systems. All of the value of crypto transactions is gone at that point. Many have been bitten by the scams that this has allowed, and the fallout from ineptitude of the operators of many of these services.

https://inputs.io/ is the poster child of these threats. Scam or hack? Ripple is attacked, in part, because it threatens the business model of closed centralized exchanges and payment systems. It is important to note that the author of ripplescam.org is, in fact, the same person responsible for inputs.io, along with centralized systems that have wreaked havoc on the community. TradeFortress is the perpetrator:

https://www.google.com/search?q=tradefortress

Why would he attack?

He had major interested in detracting from Ripple. Its model conflicts with his (and all other) closed centralized payment systems. In driving people away from Ripple to his centralized system, he cost trusting users dearly. An angry community is looking for him. His specific whereabouts are currently unknown. It is worth carefully evaluating all he has had to say about Ripple.

Everyone should read this conversation clarifying lower level misconceptions of the Ripple system:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6867324

Ripple is, in fact, open source:

https://github.com/ripple

It is leading radical new concepts that may be beneficial for all new currencies to consider:

https://ripple.com/wiki/Contracts

Ripple may or may not be the future---but it brings vital concepts to the table. They need to be considered for their individual merit. Decentralized payment and exchange systems are vital to the future of crypto currencies. Ripple does not need to replace any currency. Its system complements all currencies. It is not about Ripple vs. Bitcoin vs. your favorite crypto currency.

If you do not believe in Ripple, or Ripple Labs, then by all means fork the code. Create a system that aligns with your ideals. Create a new code base altogether---as Ripple alternatives like MasteCoin, NXT, Monetas, and eMunie are attempting. Dismissing Ripple and all concepts tied to Ripple disservices the future of crypto currencies.

Many of those who attack have vested interest, to drive their centralized alternatives. It hurts the community.

Scammers with vested interest in centralized systems abound.

Support decentralization.

Support  you. 
I am mining on it and I like it.

[HairyMaclairy]

Need to withdraw diminishes as the network expands; the IOU becomes a functional placeholder for the currency. Depending on the currency, withdrawal from the gateway could be rapid---and potentially instant if banks begin to act as gateway services.

No they don't.  We have already determined that you won't get IOUs from anyone you do not extend a trust line to. Therefore the IOUs are not generally tradeable.

If you guys don't understand the system then ...

[mmeijeri]

Someone fund my ripple wallet with 5 or 10 XRP to get started..  

You need ~31 XRP to get started, 20 to activate your account, 10 for one offer in the order book, and 1 for transaction costs. The first two are minimum reserves, that is, the functionality won't work if you have less than that amount in your account, but they are not deducted. You get your 10 XRP back as soon as the offer is accepted or canceled. The 1 XRP for transaction costs will last you a long time because transaction fees are tiny.

If you want to get your hands on some XRP, you can buy them on an exchange, buy them from someone informally or earn them by donating CPU cycles to things like cancer research at computingforgood.org.