Why Ripple is Worthless (And Some Other Coins As Well)

Ripple is currently the third most valuable cryptocurrency after Bitcoin and Ethereum. The currency with the abbreviation XRP is a token of the company Ripple Labs. Anyone who bought ripple for 100 euros on 1 January last year was able to withdraw 36,000 euros on January 1, 2018. The sum of all ripple tokens has a market capitalization of $ 89 billion. The founder was at the top of the list of the richest people at the beginning of this year. Are these tokens worth 89 billion? Certainly not. But what real value do they have? I think: 0. Here is my reasoning.

What Ripple is designed to do

When banks transfer money across borders, they use Swift’s service (and technology). It is a protocol from the early 1970s. It enables digital transfer of money between banks without having to send real banknotes back and forth. Swift is one of the cornerstones that has made our current, globalized monetary economy possible. Swift is expensive, slow and awkward. On the other hand, it has been functioning for four decades with a permanent increase in money transfers.

Ripple Labs has now invented a blockchain-based protocol to replace Swift. If it is introduced nationwide, it will replace Swift and all its disadvantages. The need and interest of the banks is there and it’s significant. If money…