Alright. Let's do this. Again.

"You can lead a horse to water, but can't make it drink", I hope this time XRP haters will take time to understand "what is XRP and how it is related to Ripple" and stop creating biased hit pieces like this one.

XRP already is "issued". Ripple doesn't "issue" XRP. The creators of XRP, like any other digital asset, had to distribute their digital creation somehow into the real world. Satoshi decided it was the miners who would receive the initial distribution of his creation.

The XRP creators chose a different avenue. There is no "mining" involved in XRP and the idea of not rewarding the validators with the fees is also an important part of the network. No one in incentivized into higher fees. Collaboration is also preferred to competition.

The initial distribution was shared between the creators of this technology and a real, world class company incentivized to use this technology and build a successful ecosystem around it.

Ripple didn't turn its attention away from XRP, they are building rails for it.

Ripple is a company. XRP is a decentralized digital asset they are using. They are not refraining from XRP, they are an evolving business, there's always been a special place for XRP in their business model. XRP is Ripple's special sauce.

xRapid used XRP and it evolved into ODL

The XRP ledger existed before Ripple, it wasn't "launched" in 2012. It is a mix of many ideas, including Ryan Fugger's work named "ripple". This is why people referred to XRP as "Ripple" before it was "rebranded" to just XRP to prevent confusion from Ripple the company.

Ripple doesn't "oversee" the XRP ledger. They sure are a leader in the ecosystem, they are the first to use it, but it's all decentralized and will only decentralize even more over time, unlike proof of work systems getting more centralized over time.

This is not really how it works. Validators can configure and add any validator they trust to their own UNL. Ripple's UNL is only a suggestion and the "default" setting. This has been discussed times and times again but it always comes back.

At the time i'm writing this, There are 126 validators, of which 38 are UNL, of those 38, only 6 are run by Ripple. There is also over 700 nodes. What is the problem exactly? This is not proof of work. They only agree on the order of transactions. https://livenet.xrpl.org/network/nodes 

@pay_string (PayID doesn't exist anymore) is good for XRP just as the interledger protocol. XRP can be a good vehicle to transfer value on ILP. What's even better, it could benefit the whole crypto space, if any another project adds ILP compatibility and liquidity to the network.

RippleNet is software by Ripple the company. It doesn't "require" XRP, it can work without it, but XRP benefits it all. That's the whole point. XRP is used on RippleNet by ODL (on demand liquidity). RippleNet makes payment rails more efficient. XRP adds real time settlement.

We are still navigating in a new territory, Ripple is working in a very regulated environment. XRP needs clarity to be used broadly. They just can't use XRP if they are not 100% certain they will be on the right side of the track when regulations and clarity finally happen.

So if the author knows about ODL, then why did he just say Ripple didn't require XRP in its products. I'm confused. ODL IS using XRP.

Corridors need to be added one by one and liquidity built in every corridor. It takes time. Rome wasn't built in a day.

It's not Ripple who "minted" XRP and is "releasing" it. The XRP creators "minted" XRP. It had to start somewhere. Initial distribution is different than Bitcoin, it's not proof of work. Different doesn't mean bad. Ripple is being responsible with its XRP. The escrow proves it.

It doesn't "sacrifice decentralization for speed". It's only way more efficient than proof of work and some people have a hard time dealing with this. It's only a different consensus mechanism. Again, different doesn't mean bad. It isn't "less secure" either. Quite the opposite.

It is not "minted in advance of network launch", damn, this is not gold this is numbers and code, satoshi could have done the same with initial distribution, mining doesnt fabricate anything, it's only a big waste and some fresh bitcoin is created out of thin air on each block.

Validators choose what validators they trust (or not). It is not permissioned or overseen by a company anymore than bitmain is overseeing bitcoin. Ripple is one of the many actors of the XRP ecosystem. Sure is a leader, this is where it all started after all, but not in "control"

Yes, I guess not having proof of work slowing things up helps for faster transactions, even if some people think it's not "as secure" as proof of work. It is. You can't double spend or rewrite history on the XRP Ledger either. You're not at the mercy of the most powerful actor.

Validators are not all vetted by Ripple.

Trust is necessary in bitcoin (that 4 major mining pools won't collude and 51%). At least with XRP you can choose to ignore bad actors and don't listen to them, but in proof of work you can't do anything against the most powerful actors.

The lack of incentives is also deterrent for rent seekers. People are helping to run the network because they benefit from its success. It's more based on cooperation than competition. I don't think it's a bad thing.

XRP is decentralized. It really is. Validators only order transactions. Transactions are broadcasted to the entire network. When a transaction is ignored for three consensus rounds in a row, everybody knows. It's easy to stop listening to validators ignoring these transactions.

It's just as impractical for validators to collude and censor transactions on XRP as it is on any other decentralized network including Bitcoin, but at least with XRP you can do something about it when the network is attacked by malicious actors, unlike POW. You can ignore them.

You have to stop looking at XRP through a POW lense. The consensus algorithm is entirely different. David Schwartz is not an idiot! XRP is the most hated coin of it all, do you really think maximalists wouldn't already have messed things up if it was so fragile?

This is probably the main reason why XRP receives so much hate and FUD by bitcoiners. They know it's better, plain and simple. Like the little dogs barking at the big alpha male in the room. They are so scared, it shows, with all the BS articles like this one.

This doesn't make sense at all. All XRPs are already issued. Ripple can do what they want with their holdings, just as miners and early adopters can do whatever they want with their BTC and mining rewards. IDGAF. The vast majority of Bitcoin's total supply is already distributed.

Stop acting like the first 85% of Bitcoin circulating supply was distributed more "fairly" when people could mine a million bitcoins with a simple desktop computer before the rest of the world even knew about it all and are now fighting over what is left.

The mining industry is only creating more centralization over time. Proof Of Work doesn't work. It really is that simple. It's a wasteful consensus algorithm and always will be. XRP was created by bitcoiners to improve on this idea. Here we are. I know it hurts.

Deal with it, like a big boy. Stop throwing shit at others, you won't look cleaner, we can all see what you're doing. Enough of this manipulation. If you think XRP has a chance to succeed, stop trying to derail this train and fucking get on board and buy it! Don't be an ass.