What I've never understood about XRP and Ripple is that originally XRP was meant to only be used for paying for transactions and the ledger was meant to track IOUs between people denominated in some other "real" currency. They had videos floating around explaining the concept. In fact, they were handing out XRP for free to bootstrap the network of users [0] (that post says 1000 XRP, originally it was 30,000 XRP when the post was first created).<p>XRPs themselves were basically worthless, but it was required to interact with the ledger (you pay maybe 0.000001 XRP per transaction). The idea was that you pass a small amount on to friends and others interested in using it to create their wallet and start tracking IOUs, and you needed to have at least 20 XRP in your wallet.<p>Somewhere along the way all hell broke loose, Bitcoin got popular, crypto currencies in general got popular and XRP itself suddenly became worth something, the original concept got lost and everything seemed to go off the rails... That's when I lost interest.<p>[0] <a href="https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=145506.0" rel="nofollow">https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=145506.0</a>
I don't understand why this hasn't happen sooner as it's been 8 years since their release. Ripple is a centralized, managed network. It's nothing like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or many other decentralized projects. Ripple is not a cryptocurrency.<p>For years I've told loved ones, friends, and anyone with a passing interest in the nascent space to avoid Ripple like the plague.
Make no mistake. They're going to make an example of Ripple. This is going to be horrible for them and a warning to anyone trying to run a similar Ponzi scheme. You can't centralise, hype and then cash out on vaporware without there being consequences. XRP held zero value at the time the founder cashed out and they've been trying to make their consulting business work ever since. Dare I say XRP goes to zero. Watch this space.
Lets not forget a few years ago when Ripple was running around trying to pay companies millions of dollars to list XRP. Ripple has always operated under a thin veneer of legitimacy, but it's basically to cover up the massive exit scam that effectively happened.
There is immense value in disrupting and supplanting the global monetary hegemony. Credit card Payment processing amounts to a 3% tax on a majority of transactions. These companies also are increasingly imposing moral judgements on who should be allowed to transact. With little recourse available to the affected. (The blacklisting of Patreon alternative New project 2, and pornhub) are examples of this. Liberating payments online to the same level we have with exchanging cash is definitely desirable.<p>In general, crypto technology is valuable for it's ability to replace capricious monopolies with distributed implementations built on federated protocols run like a constitutional democracy.<p>We can of course expect established monopolies and governments to retaliate in every way possible in an attempt to maintain power.
<a href="https://kin.org/" rel="nofollow">https://kin.org/</a> got sued by the SEC for the same reason. They 'got away' with a 5m fine but were not branded a security (does that automatically declare them a currency?). They're now free to carry on development with the SEC behind them. The difference is they just moved to Solana as a token, so they're decentralized, whereas what I take from XRP is that it's not. I don't fancy XRPs chances seeing what the Kin boys and girls went through, but if they 'win', whatever that may look like, they'll be up and away.
I saw some articles where they suggested this announcement is strange<p>It is not strange, the SEC sends what are called Wells Notices to companies and reporting companies often announce the receipt of them<p>Ripple is not a reporting company and doesnt have an asset to report on, and coming to an agreement with the SEC on staying that way has hit an impasse, for them to announce this
I kind of thought the SEC had given Ripple a pass since they waited so long, but it's a pretty clear cut case if you ask me. I don't expect the SEC to lose this one. I'm not sure what the consequences will be.
Ripple Wells Submission Summary has been posted:<p><a href="https://ripple.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Ripple-Wells-Submission-Summary.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://ripple.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Ripple-Wells-S...</a><p>Primary risk seems to be de-listing from 200+ crypto exchanges
We may see a pull back in a few crypto currencies soon.<p>ETHE the grayscale Ethereum trust has skyrocketed lately and has about 285 Million shares outstanding.<p>On January4th an additional 1.05 Billion shares come free trading as their 6 month lockup expires.<p>Oh and its currently trading at a 200+% to its net asset value.<p>Its conceivable Ethereum itself could double and ETHE could still drop 50%.<p>Fun times!!
I guess the real question is: what will actually happen if the SEC wins this case (which we should assume they will). Ripple is vast and presumably has the resources to deal with any judgement against them. The ruling would have to make the administrative burden of managing global XRP holdings unviable in order to really change the overall equation here. Is Ripple just getting slapped with a small fine in the realm of possibility?
Chris Larsen is certainly spending like this won't make a dent.<p><a href="https://www.townofross.org/sites/default/files/fileattachments/town_council/meeting/2008/15._1_upper_road_staff_report.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://www.townofross.org/sites/default/files/fileattachmen...</a>
The real issue here is the fundraising - and in Ripple's case, the ability to sell XRPs as needed - which seems to be a fair question from the SEC given the very big amounts involved?
One more proof that Ripple, being centralized, was bound to fail from day one and never was a match for Bitcoin (and all its more or less retarded cousins).
What I don't understand is why the SEC doesn't investigate the federal reserve bank? I don't see any difference between Ripple and US dollars.
The SEC can only win this case if the judge is corrupt because logic is not on their side.
Won’t have an impact on the broader crypto market, but it will signal that the US is diehard anti-crypto. So many companies have already moved offshore, anyone trying to play in the US should get out ASAP. Who is the SEC protecting? Anyone who has bought XRP doesn’t give a shit.