This. Ripple like fiat is a scam. People might fail to comprehend this though (they do with fiat) ...
Why people should care if XRP is "premined" ? Why everything should follow Bitcoin step by step ?
Mining is the way Bitcoin distribute coins, Ripple chose a different distribution scheme. It's not a scam, it's only a difference. Everything that is different than Bitcoin's blueprint is not a scam.
People only care what is the most useful. If Ripple is most useful than Bitcoin people will use it and won't give a fuck about those bullshit premined concerns.
Actually a company having the power to exclusively pre-mine a currency and then "lend it" to people is a indeed a big problem, it solves NOTHING and only creates another debt-based economy and only benefits the very few who own ripple.
Ripple just fuels to cycle of crony capitalism (which is why banks are loving it). Bitcoin on the other hand creates real free markets where you actually own your money/savings and every individual has a chance to prosper, depending on how much risk and work each individual decides to take.
I do not understand why people are so much focused on the pre-mined xrp's, especially when a proportion of BTC itself was pre-mined too. Actually Ripple IS solving the problem of double spending trough consensus which is way faster and convenient then BTC's PoW.
If you strongly believe it benefits the very few who owns them, why don't you buy these cheap coins. BTC's were not for free either, people do forget this, with mining you spend your time, expensive hardware, electricity...
Let's say you are a hardcore miner, then I'd suggest you to have a look at
https://www.ripplelabs-wcgxrp.com/ . In stead of wasting computer power, this way you contribute to science and get xrp's.
If for any reason, you do not want the gateway specific currency (xrp), you still can use the gateway which is not in any case a competitor to BTC. Its main goal is to accelerate the money transactions and for free, including BTC.
Most people do not know what Ripple and xrp is. If you are interested, check these documents:
https://ripple.com/ripple_primer.pdfhttps://ripple.com/ripple-gateways.pdf