Hi all,
Maybe the most important questions about XRP are: is XRP centralized? and does it serve the banking system only so it is our enemy?
That I will try to answer now. But before that, please read the 1988 cover article "Get Ready for a World Currency" written in 1988 (link below).
First, yes XRP is decentralized. This is how the RippleNet Blockchain is designed, and this is something that we all need to educate ourselves more about from the whitepapers of cryptocurrencies. Sadly, people don't read.
Now, I do understand the confusion on why many think XRP is centralized. The actual term here that we need to talk about is not centralization / decentralization. The real term that creates the confusion with regadrs to XRP is “control”.
I clarify, there are two types of control that we need to have. These are:
- Control over the supply (like who has the power to issue the coin, who distributes it, how much is distributed, and to whom)
- Control over the use (like who spends it, when, and on what)
When we talk about XRP, please note that your worry is mostly about "control over distribution", not "control over use".
When it comes to the "control over use", XRP is a completely and totally decentralized coin. You can use it or a fraction of it to buy whatever you want, whenever you want.
If the above is clear enough, we come to the next issue that also gets people so confused about XRP, which is, XRP is not Ripple. Ripple Inc. is not XRP. Ripple is a company that develops financial products. XRP is a coin that is used on the RippleNet blockchain and XRP does not have more than a group of developers, just like any other cryptocurrency. To make this much more clearer, there is Ripple that develops products and has a CEO who is vocal about XRP, and there is XRP foundation, which is a not-for-profit entity that develops the ledger/ ecosystem that XRP dwells in. Ripple is for-profit-organization, XRP Foundation is not-for-profit. Here again, people confuse these two. This is initially due to one thing, that the majority of XRP coins is escrowed by Ripple. It is not “owned” in a way that allows Ripple to manipulate the market with it, as certain conditions need to be met in order for Ripple to release XRP coins to the market.
By the way, all other cryptocurrencies have multimillionaired its “developers/owners” who invented the coin. So, whatever you want to say about XRP, you can say about Satoshi, who got 1 million BTCs and left off, or about Vitalik or Chris or anybody else. People for some reason forget that.
I hope the above is clear.
And how come something decentralized has a CEO?
Most people's confusion on what is XRP and what is Ripple, and how they are related makes them believe that XRP is "owned" by Ripple. This is just like saying Satoshi or Vitalik own BTC or ETH.
Bottom line, XRP is a fully decentralized cryptocurrency. Ripple’s escrow over XRP is what makes people confused, but that doesn’t give Ripple the right to sell or dump in the market or manipulate XRP prices. If the SEC has enough proof that this is what happened, then Ripple has shot itself in the foot. But this requires proofs, not allegations.
Also, I'm not so keen on the amounts that the founders of XRP gave themselves. They received 1 Billion or more each. But again, who am I to judge this and who the court is to judge you and how many children you want to have or how many hours you want to sleep?
A few billion XRPs here and there, but the majority of XRP is beyond the control of a few.
This is what makes XRP the best candidate for the Phoenix, in case you read the 1988 article in the Economist, link below, which states clearly “The world’s phoenix supply would be fixed by a new central bank, descended perhaps from the IMF”. This tells you clearly that the Ripple escrow over XRP coins could be handed to the IMF. If this happens, then XRP would be the Phoenix, and the IMF will most probably waive the escrow conditions and have full control over the “Supply”of XRP to the different nations as a World Currency, but the control over “Use” will not be affected.
I hope the above points are clear. I highly appreciate it if you could read the article of 1988 based on the above information that I discussed, so you could fully understand my point of view.
To sum up, XRP is decentralized, if you own it, you are free to do whatever you want with it, on an open source blockchain. It fits the description of the Phoenix. Finally, please don't confuse the terms "Control over Supply", "Control over Use", Centralization, Decentralization, XRP, and Ripple. They all mean different things.
Thanks and I hope to hear your thoughts as I’m interested in learning more about others’ views.
