Topic: Ripple: A Distributed Exchange for Bitcoin - page 13. (Read 66712 times)

Same with MtGox. We deposit fiat, and we get IOUs which are a database entry in their MySQL server. Then you buy Bitcoins on the exchange but you are really getting Bitcoin IOUs which also sit in their database. When you withdraw US Dollars from MtGox you get IOUs from your bank instead of MtGox IOUs. It is only when you withdraw Bitcoins to a wallet under your control that you actually have something which is not debt based and without counterparty risk.

What Ripple nay-sayers don't realize is that Ripple functions identically to the MtGox scenario, it's just more explicit. It would be like being able to send your "MtGox US Dollar IOUs" in a cryptographically secure way to anyone else with a Ripple wallet. Clearly, this is useful and not a "scam" as forum trolls would have us think.

I agree. I was just trying to come up with different terminology for IOU in ripple, but gave up, because that's exactly what it is. We don't deposit money in banks, we lend our money to the bank.

Pardon the french but FUCK THAT SHIT.

An IOU is exactly how we should think of what we have in our bank accounts. Citizens of Cyprus would agree.

IOU's are supposed to be good enough for everyone else.  Why aren't they good enough for server operators when it comes to getting paid commissions?

Thanks. Our marketing people agree with you. They'd much prefer I used the word "balance". And I agree with them because it's unnatural to think of, say, the $25,000 in your bank account as a "mere" IOU from your bank.

You are good at explaining things.   I like this more than before but still skeptical.  You need a marketer to come up with a better word than IOUs.....   that is the next part I do not like especially in america where you saw all these people walk away from mortgages that they could afford.....

The whole point of Ripple is that you can hold whatever currency you want and merchants can set prices in whatever currency they want and the transaction "just works" at a very good rate, instantly, and irreversibly.

If the question is why Ripple's transaction fees are paid in XRP rather than BTC, it's for technical reasons. You can't require one Bitcoin transaction for each Ripple transaction and even if you did, that would mean every Ripple server would have to monitor the Bitcoin network. There's no known way to allow BTC to change hands on the Ripple network without a central authority to hold the keys that release those Bitcoins back to the Bitcoin network. The way Ripple works, the only currency that could exist on the system without an issuer is one that is native to the system.

I've solicited technical solutions to this problem on this forum. It would be awesome if Bitcoins could be used on other decentralized systems without having to trade on the blockchain (both because it would be faster and because it could enable things like microtransactions) or trust a central authority to hold the Bitcoins. I've yet to hear one. I'm still looking.

If you like XRP as a currency, great, use it as one. If you don't like XRP as a currency, that's fine too. You'll need like $5 worth to fund your account and pay for a few hundred thousand transactions, but that's it.

but my question was "why not use bitcoins as the base and charge low fees for use of your network"?   it gives merchants what they want (fast settlement, no charge backs and low fees).

I see what you did there.  Ignoring the "why use XRP at all" part of the question.

Ripple is just a get-rich-quick scheme for the creators anyway.  Read this: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/dont-trust-ripple-its-a-get-rich-quick-scheme-for-the-creators-179677

Password is not stored in plain text.

Stefan Thomas explains:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1clt5h/ripple_stores_your_password_in_plain_text_as_bad/c9hshzz

welcome to the new world of HTML5 local storage. It's like an app running locally really. Just like BitcoinQt knows your wallet password in plain text as well. I guess the password is encrypted on the drive (this can only keep dumb trojans away really), but it will be decrypted on-demand in memory.

Ripple stores your password in plain text. - Reddit.com
Is this true ? If yes then fix it before trying to convince others to use ripple instead of bitcoin.

I use LastPass and it shows ripple.com login is insecure. Any idea why?

Logout/login would be my first guess.

Yes, 2 temporary issues, matching engine is down for a few minutes every 2 hours or so.
And already filled orders are sometimes still visible. Both can cause negative bid ask spread.

The exchange doesn't seem to be working - I've placed a few orders to buy bitcoin for xrp but it doesn't work no matter what price I choose.

The order book on bitcoin charts seems to reflect this problem:



Edit - just managed to buy 0.1 bitcoins - maybe a temporary issue?

The genesis ledger contains 100 billion XRPs in a known account. See here for the distribution:
https://ripple.com/wiki/Introduction_to_Ripple_for_Bitcoiners#Distribution

How were XRP originally created and distributed?

I'm not opposed to a feature that would let issuers choose to eliminate their ability to raise the transfer fee still allowing them to lower it. In fact, I'll add it to the proposed features list now.

https://ripple.com/wiki/Proposed_features