I don't know for sure if ripple is the latest and scariest in a long line of banking scams that ensure power remains in the hands of the bankers, or simply an opportunistic caretaker for the dying economic paradigm of central banking debt slavery. There is still plenty of money to be made out of the legacy system, perhaps that's all ripple is interested in?
From what I have read in the past about ripple and from what I've recently read on their website, I fear it is more likely the former.
ripple sits on the Federal Reserve's Faster Payments Task Force Steering Committee and co-chairs the W3C's Web Payments Working Group.
ripple website
They want to use blockchain technology to connect all the banks together, with ripple acting as the intermediary. Ok and what happens if they are successful? Who controls the network?
At present, around 25 validator nodes form the backbone of the ripple network, selected by ripple having demonstrated adherence to their criteria (some of which is perfectly legitimate.)
Stefan Thomas, CTO of ripple writes...
In order to maintain future network reliability and mitigate the risk of a single point of failure, RCL needs to be able to securely run without depending on any one entity. Today, RCL has 25 validator nodes running, but continuing to grow and diversify this list of recommended validator operators is a priority for us. Diversification means a variety of identities, geographic locations and software platforms, all of which will further mitigate the risk of a single point of failure.
ripple validators are chosen based on their merit as validators. That is to say, the most reliable, reputable, stable and secure validators will tend to appear on most people's UNLs.
So ripple "recommends" and someone "chooses" the validators....interesting. Who chooses? Who controls the criteria? How long before expediency or outright corruption interferes with this process? All banking scams begin by building confidence. Ripple and every ripple employee may be completely honourable and doing their best, but if the gaps are there, they will be exploited eventually.
Ultimately, the network has, from my point of view, a very dubious governance model in which, ripple has far too much influence. It would appear that every layer of protection we expect from blockchain based networks could be compromised. The software, the protocols, the validators....ushering in a new era of total banking control the banks can only dream about presently.
Most banks won't go near any blockchain network they can't control, yet they appear to be all over ripple.
15 of the top 50 banks work with ripple
30 active integrations
9 countries with banks implementing ripple in production
I would really appreciate it if someone with technical knowledge could post here or do their own post on ripple and explain if my concerns have merit. I am not into FUD, I've been concerned about ripple for a very long time. I think it is important for people to be aware of potential harm if networks without the right governance model is adopted. No freedom loving person wants to contribute unknowingly to the further enslavement of humanity on the very edge of freedom!
Happy Steeming