Cryptocurrency purists have alwaysjudged new coins by a few important factors. On top of that list has always been decentralization. However, one of the bigger coins in thecryptocurrency market has been hiding in plain sight with its centralized nature. But, its recent boom that saw it finish last year as one of topperforming crypto assets has seen it garner a lot of hate.
What is causing this Ripple in the market?
Ripple, a token created by the companyof the same name that aims to facilitate transfers between major financialcorporations. In this goal, it has seen much success over 2017 with afew major banks partnering with it.
Despite working with central banks, itis the centralized nature that has many up in arms. When the system was createdin 2013, the development team removed many of the key features you find in mostother cryptocurrencies.
This was done in so that the token couldbe geared towards these major financial institutions, which is fine andprobably necessary, but it becomes problematic when Ripple is counted inthe same breath as Bitcoin and other very decentralized digitalcurrencies.
Ripple issues its token in a centralizedfashion, unlike other coins which are mined and incentivized by peoplededicating computing power to accumulate them.
“It’s not a cryptocurrency”
Many in the community, includingcreators of other coins, have slammed Ripple’s definition as a cryptocurrency.
Litecoin creator, CharlieLee, has said that he does not believe that Ripple should even be considered acryptocurrency.
Making Ripples
Despite the mixed opinions of Ripple, it still made big gains in 2017, going up 36,000 percent. This caused it’smarket cap to push the coin up to second on Coinmarketcap for a period.
However, even this accolade has beenslammed.
It seems like the multiple-year-long cryptocurrency bull-market eventuallyreached a point where newcomers have been buying indiscriminately, notunderstanding anything about what they are buying other than ‘it’s a cryptocoin so you can make money with it,’ and Ripple managed to get caught up in themadness
