Topic: RAPID cryptocurrency technology? (Read 109 times)

Other than Ripple (XRP), which appears to be in advanced stages of integration with financial institutions, which other altcoins or blockchain-related technologies have a verifiable deal or relationship with any large international commercial financial industry entities?

Before answering, please consider the following:

As I understand it, the Ripple network is actually quite centralized, thus is also quite susceptible to manipulation, single-point failure, hacking etc. The result of this centralized architecture makes Ripple inherently untrustworthy, especially with one of the core tenets of Bitcoin (and the cryptocurrency movement in general) being that concentrated control is bad.

I realize that on face-value, any coin or blockchain which is truly decentralized would be frowned upon by the traditional institutions. Despite this, I also know that there are a huge number of very smart people within every one of these institutions who are now dedicated to examining and developing strategies to capitalize on the now unstoppable cryptocurrency revolution happening TODAY. I believe that very soon, they will figure out how to earn the trust of this new world by embracing which ever technology satisfies all of these crucial requirements of the perfect solution by being: Riskless + Affordable + Pervasive + Instant + Decentralized. I call this the "RAPID" requirement.

Here are the five RAPID components in more detail:

1. Riskless - Regarding transactions, are they secure? Is the protocol open source? Has the protocol been reviewed, tested, proven, broken, hardened, improved and proven again? Is the protocol mature and would I feel just as safe sending a small amount as I would a large amount? Do I have confidence that when I hit 'send', my transaction will complete as expected? The answer to all of the above should be 'yes' or 'as much or better than if I was using fiat.' Relative to other options, there should be an extremely low risk of loss in transit.

2. Affordable - The cost to transact should be extremely low, and should be predictable. For example, one tenth of a percent of the total transaction amount can be expected whether transferring a fraction of a unit, or many thousands of units.

3. Pervasive - This perfect solution would need to be embraced and supported by a wide variety of market participants, including producers and consumers of good and services, and banks, credit card companies, exchanges and the rest of the financial services industry. *This wide adoption is only possible if all other RAPID components are satisfied.*

4. Instant - Transactions must be fast. Using Bitcoin as an example, waiting several hours for transaction confirmation really limits the real-time utility. Ideally, the perfect solution will confirm within a few seconds. A vendor should be confident that value has been exchanged and confirmed at "checkout."

5. Decentralized - Bitcoin has already proven beyond doubt that a decentralized currency is desired, for a variety of reasons, by vast swaths of the population. Without getting to deep into the philosophy, I will say this: If you are enthusiastic about the prospect of cryptocurrency as not only a store of wealth, or an investment opportunity, but mainly as a global transactional vehicle, then you already understand why this concept of decentralization is so important, exciting and just good.

So now, with all of the above considered, in answering my question above, please ask yourself: Is this coin/technology RAPID?

I am not aware of any which satisfy all five points, but we are getting closer! All comments and criticisms are welcomed. I do not purport to be any sort of expert. I am simply an excited student. I've been reading and watching and have had some 'skin in the game' since late 2011 and I still don't know where all this will lead, but I am convinced that we are at a tipping point in the history of global financial markets. Satoshi Nakamoto, great fucking job, dude!