Topic: Ripple: The Best Way To Legitimize Bitcoin - page 4. (Read 13027 times)

Well...it's not illegal for you to write a check for a million dollars if you don't have it in your account. It's illegal of you to intentionally use that check to defraud someone....and intentional fraud, be it with TradFortress-USD in the Ripple system or with defective whoopi-cushions is a crime. Additionally, as I'm sure you noticed, none of this industry has been regulated .... YET. Thanks to thefts from various online wallets, Silk Road, etc. the hammer may be falling soon....

My use of 'IOU' and 'checks' and 'credit' is merely meant to help people conceptualize what Trustlines. They developed this term, and others like it, to cut loose baggage concepts like interest rates, overdraft fees, etc.

Trustlines are technically not like checks no more than checks are IOUs. To my knowledge know one within Ripple nor any of it's Gateways would accept a check.

A straight answer, you will not get.  It's obvious this person is a part of Ripple-affiliated organization but can't say so for whatever reason.  In fact, some quick Googling of usernames from this thread will show that some of the people in this thread have been propping up XRP for quite some time.

I still have graphite in my left hand from when I stabbed myself with a pencil in first grade. However, I still use both pencils and my left hand as I find them both to be extremely useful.

Solution #1: If you want to see how much of each type of BTC you hold, go to the Trust tab in your Ripple client. It will not only show you the trust lines that you have open for each issuer and currency, but it will also show you how much of each type of currency you hold from them. While you have the Trust tab open, set TradeFortress's trust setting to 0.

Solution #2: If you really want to liquidate your stock of 4 TradeFortress BTC, I have just placed an offer on the order book giving 0.001 XRP per TradeFortress BTC. Go to the Trade tab, select the BTC/XRP dropdown and enter TradeFortress's address (rH3bZsvVUhzugvcYuJVoSYCEMHkfK6wHNv) as the BTC issuer. Then cross the trade. If you only hold TradeFortress BTC, you can skip the Trade tab entirely and just use the Convert tab.

This will allow you to clear out those worthless BTC and put this episode behind you. Then you can move on with your Ripple usage, knowing that you should only trust gateways worthy of your trust. Bitstamp is a good place to start.

Because I'm setup, I've been helping my friends buy BTC and XRP within minutes. If you've got a friend who's already built the infrastructure for immediate transactions, I'd recommend you go to him and try a few small amounts until you've got your feet wet.

If you don't have a friend (already set up) then my experience is that it's just gonna take you time until you get everything verified and rolling (minimum of 3 days). It's the damn banks and their pokey systems that are proving to be the barrier to entry into Ripple, Bitcoin, Litecoin, etc.

Yes...a check is an IOU. It is an IOU issued by my bank (it's got their name on it, not Uncle Sam's) that I can give to anyone. Some places don't accept those IOUs even though they are made in dollars. It is a receipt showing that my bank owes whoever I gave it to that much in USD.

Even the dollar is an IOU. Historically it's been an IOU for silver (silver certificates) or gold (until we came off the gold standard). That's the issue with fiat currency, you know...now it's an IOU for absolutely nothing. People shifted the trust that the government would give them silver/gold into just trust of the government. The government has been taking advantage of that trust by printing money like there's no tomorrow. That is another reason I really love Bitcoin...cause they ain't making any new ones. 

There are numerous articles online regarding the history of currency and checking. Perhaps you may wanna get a bit more historical perspective on this.

Comparing Bitcoin and Ripple is comparing cars to a highway. I know both of them VERY well...that's why I started the entire post. Please look at some of the videos that I've posted and read a bit. Your comments seem to me to demonstrate that your knowledge of Ripple is about on par with your knowledge of fiat. 

I read yesterday of a place that you could buy XRP with a credit card. I have not vetted them myself, so I'm not recommending them. I like buying my Bitcoin through Coinbase because I've got my account verified and they let me buy them instantly. One of the Chinese gateways lets you use Paypal, but I don't know Chinese, don't trust Google translate enough with my money and have a sneaky suspicion that Paypal China is different than Paypal US.

If you're American, you can wire money to SnapSwap.us and (because they don't have a wallet service) they will pump it directly into your Ripple account. But, again, I have not personally vetted them....and it takes that same ridiculous 3 days to wire money .... which is completely alleviated once your in the Ripple system. They do meet the seal of approval of the International Ripple Business Association.

Bitstamp is great. And, if you're not American, I've been having a good experience with TheRockTrading (in Malta). I'm not finished doing my background check on them yet though....

If you notice the author of that site has not allowed publication of ANY comments since Ripple went Open Source. His information is misleading at times and he is misinformed at others. He will not allow authorization of any post that conflicts with his initial opinion.

Check out some of the videos that I've posted in others comments.

Also, check out some of these sites that I copied from the Ripple Federation:

Official site - ripple.com
Official forum - ripple.com/forum
Ripple Wiki - ripple.com/wiki
Ripple Blog - ripple.com/blog
A list of Ripple Gateways - ripple.com/gateways
Ripple network graph - ripple.com/graph
Server uptime - status.ripple.com
Instructional Articles and White Papers

Ripple, or Bills of Exchange 2.0 by J.P. Koning (copy)
OpenGateway by Bob Way (pdf)
Bitcoin: A P2P Electronic Cash System by S.Nakamoto (pdf)
How to Set Up a Trust Line for SnapSwap in your Ripple Wallet (copy)
Ripple Security: pass-phrase and secret key by Dave Chapeskie
Ripple Wallet Review by Donald McIntyre (copy)
SmartPhone Penetration Argentina and Brazil
More Community Pages

International Ripple Business Association - XRPga.org
Information on the latest giveaways - RippleGiveaway.com
A good alternative Ripple forum - XRPtalk.org
Chinese Ripple website with several services - ripplecn.org
The 'All things Ripple/XRP' page on bitcointalk.org
Chinese Ripple forum - ripplechina.net
Reddit discussions - reddit.com/r/Ripple+Ripplers

ORGANIZATIONS
 
Ripple Labs - Creators of the Ripple Protocol, a peer-to-peer payment network. Visit Ripple.com for more information.
International Ripple Business Association - The IRBA provides unified procedures to establish trustworthy and secure services for Ripple customers. (discussion)
Ripple Federation - Nonprofit working to inform and empower users of Ripple. (discussion)


GATEWAYS AND EXCHANGES
 
Kraken - A new standard for secure, feature-rich digital asset trading. (discussion)
Wisepass - Gateway offering trading in many different currencies. (discussion)
Dividend Rippler - Anonymous gateway dealing in Bitcoin and Litecoin (discussion)
SnapSwap - Gateway serving U.S. customers. (discussion)
Bitstamp - Established Bitcoin exchange now supporting trading of many currencies in Ripple. (discussion)
RippleCN - Chinese gateway offering a range of products and services. (discussion)
RippleChina - Chinese gateway offering a range of products and services.
XRPChina - Chinese gateway with a specialty of quotes and markets.
The Rock Trading - Gateway based in Italy dealing with EUR, USD, and various virtual currencies. (discussion)
WeExchange - Australian gateway dealing with Bitcoin, USD, AUD, and CAD. (discussion)
Ripple Israel / Bitcoin Israel - Oldest Bitcoin exchange in Israel still in full operation, now offering Ripple services. (discussion)
Justcoin - Gateway and Bitcoin exchange based in Norway.

 

I mean, how quick is it to set up a ripple account, and fund it from your bank, then buy BTC from somewhere?  Where would you buy it from?

Is it possible to buy bitcoins via ripple directly from your bank, instead of going through localbitcoins (dangerous) or coinbase (takes too long)

Oh...I understand now...sorry. Actually whenever you attempt to trade currency it will ask you which BTC you wanna use....BTC-Bitstamp, BTC-JustCoin, etc. or which dollars you wanna use USD-Bitstamp, USD-JustCoin, etc.

/Users/Harpool/Desktop/Screen Shot 2013-12-13 at 11.04.18 PM.jpg


(I hope that screenshot shows up....again...kinda new at this forum)

Now...in terms of how to get rid of the bogus BTC completely...I dunno. I'll have to explore that myself.  (Historically, it may be kinda neat that you have them.) I set up 5 or 6 accounts and started moving stuff all around, adjust trust lines, etc....just playing. When I'm finished I'm just gonna move my stuff out and let those accounts go unused.

In the end, I'm thinking it may be best to have one "In" account...one "Out" account... and one that never trusts anyone (including Gateways)....but I dunno yet...

This is just like having an account at a bitcoin exchange, or a bank, with the difference that with Ripple it is a neutral and algorithmic P2P network that is keeping the books, not the bank or exchange itself. Don't extend trust to anyone you wouldn't open an online account with.

If it were bank initiated, it certainly wouldn't be open source. Actually it was initiated by the founder of Coin Base, et al and received significant seed money from the Bitcoin Opportunity Fund. If it were a scam, it would have came up during the vetting process of any of it's several rounds of raising capital.

It is no way similar to any of the cryptos. It is a system of transferring and exchanging value. XRP are not designed to be a container of value. They simply lubricate the system by preventing spam and denial of service attacks.

Here are some videos to help you around the learning curve and correct misconceptions:

Here's an overview of Ripple ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zxA3Gt7y3c

Here is an explanation of Ripple in 60 seconds ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwyIEMyMfqs

Here is a video to help you understand how a Gateway works ...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M16ZatXbmLg

Here is a video to help you understand how the consensus ledger works ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj1QVb1vlC0

Perhaps this video will help you understand how the client works ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06H86TNeJMw

Cheers!

I won't be using it because I have 4 bitcoins in my ripple account that aren't real. If I add more bitcoins then I won't know which bitcoins are real and which aren't - it doesn't work, so I can't and wont use it.
I'm unwilling to risk my money

One XRP costs about .03 cents. There are 1,000,000 'drops' in a ripple. The system charges 10 drops.... or .000001 cents to send currency (other than XRP) from one account to another. This is required to prevent spam and denial of service attacks on the system.

I believe 20 XRP are required for an active account, but there are free XRPs everywhere.

Yes, you can buy and sell LTC/BTC in the Ripple system.
Yes you can transfer a tiny amount of BTC from Bitstamp into Ripple.
Yes you can exchange that tiny amount of BTC for any fiat or crypto currency available. (It's still in Beta, mind you.)
Yes you can transfer that new crypto currency (i.e. Litecoin) back out of Ripple. (you may wanna consider using JustCoin)
You will never need more than .50 cents worth of XRP in your entire life as it will cover 20,000,000 transactions.

Everything that you do within the Ripple system is instant.

Ripple is not on a centralized server. The consensus ledger is kept on numerous servers around the world. In fact, I'm in the process of setting up RippleD server right now. It is Open Source. (https://ripple.com/wiki/)

If you find a money swapping pair that is not available in the system....(for example Litecoin for Yen) ... then there is an opportunity for you to set yourself up as a market maker by offering that pair....

Good luck!! :-)

I know someone who's wife left them because she met an old fling on Facebook....he won't use FB now.

I know someone who actually fell for that Nigerian email scam years ago....and they never use email now.

I know someone who owned a Mac in that late 80's that broke ...  he won't buy another Apple product.

I understand you've got some of TradeFortress's BTC...that sucks....and I understand why you won't be using Ripple now.



BTW...I recently learned of DATA (Digital Asset Transfer Authority) that is being set up to self-regulate the virtual money industry before governments start sledgehammering regulations. Bitcoin, Ripple and Ven seem to be the 3 represented bodies. It'll be interesting to see what they do to stop people like TradeFortress, or the robberies of earlier BTC sites.

Wish you luck, man....

Hey all, super newbie here...

I'm not using Ripple yet and I'm not sure I plan to after reading what people here have to say about it. Yet I'm genuinely curious about it and I've got a question...

Can Ripple be used to buy LTC from BTC without having XRP involved in the process? Or is the "small fee" always paid in XRP?

Also, if I don't really "trust" Ripple to put all my eggs into and have no faith whatsoever in XRP, can I still use Ripple to, say:

- transfer a tiny amount of BTC from Bitstamp to Ripple
- exchange the tiny amount of BTC into another crypto currency at Ripple
- transfer the new cryptocurrency to my wallet(s)

How long would that take?

Basically I take it that my question comes down to: even if I don't trust Ripple much, can it still be useful to convert and move small amounts to/from different crypto currencies? (hence never being exposed too much to Ripple being a scam or getting owned by the feds / DoJ or hacked or anything else that could happen to the centralized dot com server).

Well....I've been donating a lot of processor time to World Community Grid to crunch data to cure cancer, aids, etc. They of course giveaway XRP for this.

I really relish the idea of a virtual Switzerland, where I can put money that I with minimal government intrusion. I wire money around the globe frequently and hate waiting days or weeks for it to get there (depending on holidays/weekends). I travel internationally and .... if you've ever been to a currency exchange ... get sick every time I pay money to use a different money.

I have a few XRP, but...honestly....I don't feel that it will ever exceed .10 cents.....maybe a dollar if it goes CRAZY.

It's the ease of the system that I love, the fact that it's open source. I also LOVE Bitcoin, I love it's anti-establishment nature. But I'm afraid it may be too anti-establishment (as demonstrated by China's/France's announcements).

I see the Ripple system as an excellent way to bridge the existing systems fiat with the future of cryptos, without which I'm afraid governments are gonna come out swinging ... as cryptos completely undermine the nation state.

Oh...and I abhor misinformation.

I won't be extending any trust to the Ripple concept - so I won't be using it.

Interesting point. I know I have no need to trust anyone but the bank (gateway) where I deposited my money. If someone wants a loan, I'm just gonna send it to them....not open a trust line. According to the Ripple wiki they will have three levels of Gateways....

Now...in terms of the 'Ripple Dollars' you mentioned, not all dollars have the same value. (You can read about the 'free banking era' in the U.S. if you want a real extreme case of this.) The value of dollars from different gateways have different values. This is the same as how a Canadian quarter loses value the further you walk into the U.S. with it.....or how a dollar in the airport doesn't have the same value as a dollar at Walmart.

Before it comes out of Beta, Ripple has posted on the wiki page that there will be a 3 tiered system of Gateways. Personally, I'll only trust those who have been vetted, maintain a super high reserve ratio and have been approved by the International Ripple Business Association (IRBA).

That is no different than me saying that'll only open a checking account with a bank that is FDIC insured, and duly licensed and registered.

I'm sorry to say, but I won't extend credit (trust) to the First National Gateway Bank of Dancupid....and I would hope you don't extend credit (trust) to the First National Gateway Bank of PirateButtercup ;-)

So, what's your role with Ripple? Obviously not just a patron.