Here's what I know about XRP, but don't "quote" me ... LOL. You don't need the coin to utilize the blockchain for the purpose that Ripple is presenting, this is somewhat backed by the fact that half of the coins in circulation are still owned by Ripple original team members. The tech guys can dive more into the behind the scenes on the blockchain functionality of XRP. Also the companies beta testing ripple could just use the tech and drop the token (or just create their own). BOA does own the most number of blockchain patents, even though banks say crypto is crap (they do like the tech). A friend of mine loved ripple because of the numerous positive articles relased daily but I talked him into waiting for at least under $0.80 and buy closer to $0.60 on the last dip (which he did). I also told him to flip it at $1.25 but he didn't listen now is dropping under $0.90 again. I think ripple will be around $1 for a while but long term, these companies will just steal the tech and drop XRP (in my opinion). But ripple fans will ripple me up so I'll stop talking :):):)