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Topic: Ripple-like systems a threat to Bitcoin? - page 2. (Read 3130 times)

sr. member
Activity: 406
Merit: 250
April 09, 2013, 05:44:15 AM
#6
That reminds me, I read that the Ripple founder's admin account was used to crash Mt Gox, it seemed so sus but couldn't find anything about it, was it discussed here?
full member
Activity: 122
Merit: 100
April 08, 2013, 09:05:33 PM
#5
Ripple is still very new, and its complexity makes it not terribly user-friendly. I only see it threatening other systems if there emerges a large volume of commerce conducted natively in XRP. So far, there is no sign of any such thing.
legendary
Activity: 1764
Merit: 1007
April 08, 2013, 08:43:47 PM
#4
Why would one cryptocurrency (e.x. Bitcoin) be more valuable than another?

They would also have to be (merge-) mined in order to be secure and valuable.
newbie
Activity: 56
Merit: 0
April 08, 2013, 06:25:25 PM
#3
The way I understand it, Ripple is just a centralized/decentralized hybrid exchange. People still have to valuate their currencies, and put up ask and bid prices for it to work. And there will still be costs involved (from the spread in exchange rates, fees from the gateways, and risks involved in trusting IOUs, the owners of Ripple, the merchant you are paying, and the government jurisdictions all these groups operate in). I suspect that holding IOUs for a long amount of time would be very risky (the issuers may go out of business or be shutdown).
full member
Activity: 224
Merit: 100
April 08, 2013, 06:14:38 PM
#2
You could technically use any difficult to counterfeit fiat currency, there's nothing in the laws of the universe itself stopping you, or even necessarily human laws. People choose USD and EUR for the same reason BTC is chosen, acceptance and reputability.

And XRP is meant to be complementary to all currencies, from what I grasp of it so far. It's not like Bitcoin, it's much less decentralized so far, distribution is done drastically differently (the creators currently own the vast majority of all coins, and all coins have already been created), and its express purpose is just to facilitate currency exchange.
tlr
member
Activity: 86
Merit: 10
April 08, 2013, 05:53:31 PM
#1
Some people say Ripple is "complementary" to Bitcoin. I'm starting to think it (or something like it) could be a huge threat to Bitcoin.

As I was writing a question about "what happens in the case of an intentional hard block chain fork" I realized that if there were a way to easily exchange and transfer any currency then the network effects and scarcity of a single crypto-currency like Bitcoin would be eliminated. Anyone could create a new cryptocurrency (or just a Bitcoin block chain fork) that seamlessly integrates with the system.

If Ripple delivers on all of it's promises to provide such a system, it seems like Bitcoin and all other cryptocurrencies (except XRP or it's equivalent) would be completely devalued.

Why would users prefer to use cryptocurrencies in Ripple when they could use a physical commodity like gold or their government's fiat currency? Why would one cryptocurrency (e.x. Bitcoin) be more valuable than another?

(I'm genuinely asking this, not trolling)
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