... and splashed across all the crypto news and influencer social media was the recent court judgement that Ripple (XRP) the token is not a security. Although, it appears to be a bit more nuanced than that... the judge seems to deemed (or refused to decide) that XRP was not a security when sold on secondary markets. Which does seem to be good news for CEXs and DEXs, and you will have seen quite a number of them starting to relist the XRP token. However, the judgement did seem to suggest that XRP WAS a security when it was initially offered to investors direct from Ripple the company. And that is going to be a problem for Ripple the company... and probably everything is going to go to appeal anyway.
Anyway, this post isn't really about the court case. I'm more interested in revisiting the concept of Ripple and the XRP token. I had picked up XRP quite a while back, dumped it on the SEC case and after the Flare (FLR) snapshot... and have slowly rebought a small amount to have as a moonbag... Pragmatic, but definitely a non-believer.
With the announcement of the court case, there was a stupidly huge spike in XRP price... probably the old XRP gang getting back in on the action, there always was a strong XRP army that seemed to think that XRP would go to some stupidly high valuation based on something.
Lets put all of that aside, and I will sort of walk through my thinking on the XRP token again... given that there seems to have been very little in the way of development, and that my understanding is still coloured by original understanding of the network.
So, what is the point of Ripple... it seems to be a network that aims to replace the SWIFT messaging system that banks use to communicate cross-bank and cross-border payments. And XRP is supposed to be the intermediary bridging currency that will allow for greater liquidity between unusual pairings of currencies/commodities. All well and good, we tend to use USD for that purpose at the moment...
... and about 5 years ago, that would be a somewhat compelling reason for XRP the token... if you didn't want to use the more open Stellar (XLM) network which was essentially the same thing. But with the advent of better and permissionless DEXs and even permissioned Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), I fail to see why you would want to use the XRP... it seems like a technology that has been overtaken by technological developments?
However, the main criticism of Ripple and XRP from years ago still stands... that the network is operated by "chosen" nodes that are essentially Ripple and banks. So, we are replacing a closed and permissioned system (SWIFT) with a transparent but permissioned system (Ripplenet)? This wasn't that was hatched from the Bitcoin days... and it seems like we are replacing one middleman with another, with no real benefit in resilience and openness... but on the other hand, the banks do get to stay in charge. So, there you go... I don't see that that has changed... and so, it appears that the Ripple network is a banking upgrade without trying to adopt the core values and strengths of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. In my opinion, it will be sort of the worst of both worlds...
So, I'm sort of unchanged in that I don't think that Ripple/XRP are the way of the future... but I'm also cynical enough to think that there will be powers that will push hard for its adoption. Still, there are now much better alternatives, and to be honest, I don't think that Ripplenet really actually got any traction with banks apart from the gigantic victories dreamt up by the XRP army.
My core thoughts about Ripple are unchanged... not a long term winner, but hold a moonbag just in case I'm wrong. Plus, there are idealists in the XRP Army that will always provide exit liquidity!
I can also be found cross-posting at:
Hive
Steem
Publish0x
Handy Crypto Tools
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Coinbase: If you need a regulated and safe environment to trade, this is the first exchange for most newcomers!
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CoinList: Access to early investor and crowdsale of vetted and reserached projects.
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KuCoin: I still use this exchange to take part in the Spotlight and Burning Drop launches.
